New report argues ‘murder isn\u2019t a nationwide problem,’ it’s a problem in ‘small set of urban areas’
\nMurders in the U.S. are becoming increasingly concentrated in densely populated urban centers in just a handful of counties, according to a newly released report.
\nSome 73% of all murders in the U.S. took place in just 5% of counties while 52% of all counties reported no murders at all, according to a\u00a0Crime Prevention Research Center\u00a0study published this week and provided to Fox News Digital.
\n“Murders in the United States occur in very small areas, and that concentration has increased since 2014,” the study stated. “The concentration in 2020 is now greater than in 2010.”
\nThe report comes as a\u00a0violent crime\u00a0wave that ballooned in 2020 still rages in some parts of the country.
\n“Murder isn\u2019t a nationwide problem,” the study found. “It\u2019s a problem in a small set of urban areas and even in those counties murders are concentrated in small areas inside them, and any solution must reduce those murders.”
\nMurders spiked in 2020 as COVID-19 lockdowns upended daily life and protests and riots swept the nation following the killing of George Floyd during an interaction with Minneapolis police. Murders increased by nearly 30% in 2020 compared to the prior year, marking the largest single-year increase in killings since the FBI began tracking such crimes.
\nThe center, led by founder John Lott, divided counties into three different groups based on the amount of murders recorded: a majority of counties that experience no murder; a smaller group of counties that see low murder rates; and a “tiny set of counties where murders are very common.”
\nThe 52% of counties with no reported murders covered 10% of the population, the study said. Some 68% of counties did not exceed one murder in 2020, which accounts for 2.6% of all murders in 2020, according to the report.
\nMost murders took place in the “worst” 5% of counties that year while the worst 1% \u2014 only 31 counties \u2014\u00a0recorded 42% of the murders in 2020, the study said. That area is where 21% of the entire U.S. population lives.
\n“The worst 2% of counties (62 counties) contain 31% of the population and 56% of the murders. The worst 5% of counties contain 47% of the population and account for 73% of murders. But even within those counties, the murders are very heavily concentrated in small areas,” the report continued.
\nThe data was compiled through the FBI\u2019s 2020 Supplementary\u00a0Homicide Report, according to the center. Though not all states reported such data that year, or underreported data, researchers also used states’ open crime data as a substitution.
\nThe study found that within the counties themselves, murders and other violent crimes are also concentrated in certain areas, and the study pointed to Los Angeles County zip codes as examples.
\nIn L.A. County, the worst 10% of zip codes reported 41% of the murders, the worst 20% of zip codes accounted for 67% of the murders, and the worst 30% at 82% of murders.
\n“Between 2010 and 2014, the percentage of murders in the worst 5% of the counties fell from 71% to 69%,” the report found.
\n“But between 2014 and 2020, they had consistently climbed back by four percentage points, so murders were even more concentrated than in 2010,” it said. “The one percent of worst counties drove that increase. The share of murders in these worst counties rose over this period, but there was no change in these counties\u2019 populations.”<\/p>\n