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2023 was District's deadliest year in more than two decades
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2024/dc-crime-homicide-victims-shooting-violence/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f001
Gift Link: https://wapo.st/3RZcmJU
The city recorded 40 homicides per 100,000 residents, with victims in every ward, from babies to the elderly
The nation’s capital recorded more homicides in 2023 than in any year since 1997, giving the District the fifth-highest murder rate among the nation’s biggest cities.
The 274 confirmed victims ranged from infants to octogenarians. They were killed in homes, in Metro stations and in motor vehicles; they were killed in alleys, in school zones and in public parks. They were slain on streets by acquaintances and strangers and in the crossfire of warring neighborhood crews, in double shootings and triple shootings. They died in the dark and the dawn and under the midday sun in all parts of Washington, from its poorest precincts to its busiest commercial and nightlife areas.
To illustrate the human dimension of the violence, The Washington Post compiled a comprehensive list of the casualties — a month-by-month tally of who the victims were, how they died and where — while also examining the broader trends of the city’s 2023 homicide crisis.
The loss of lives in the year just ended, including the killings of 19 children and young teenagers, plunged families and communities into grief and ignited a local political crisis that escalated to the halls of Congress. Federal officials questioned whether D.C. leaders were equipped to prevent the District from regressing to the social dysfunction and near municipal collapse of the late 20th century, when the city, overwhelmed by crack-fueled bloodshed, became known as America’s murder capital.
“It’s been a tough year,” Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said in an interview. “There is no doubt about that.”
With a rate of 40 homicides per 100,000 residents, the District was deadlier than 55 of the country’s 60 most populous cities, behind only New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore and Memphis. While homicides surged in Washington, they decreased in many other metropolises, including New York and Chicago.
Gift Link: https://wapo.st/3RZcmJU
The city recorded 40 homicides per 100,000 residents, with victims in every ward, from babies to the elderly
The nation’s capital recorded more homicides in 2023 than in any year since 1997, giving the District the fifth-highest murder rate among the nation’s biggest cities.
The 274 confirmed victims ranged from infants to octogenarians. They were killed in homes, in Metro stations and in motor vehicles; they were killed in alleys, in school zones and in public parks. They were slain on streets by acquaintances and strangers and in the crossfire of warring neighborhood crews, in double shootings and triple shootings. They died in the dark and the dawn and under the midday sun in all parts of Washington, from its poorest precincts to its busiest commercial and nightlife areas.
To illustrate the human dimension of the violence, The Washington Post compiled a comprehensive list of the casualties — a month-by-month tally of who the victims were, how they died and where — while also examining the broader trends of the city’s 2023 homicide crisis.
The loss of lives in the year just ended, including the killings of 19 children and young teenagers, plunged families and communities into grief and ignited a local political crisis that escalated to the halls of Congress. Federal officials questioned whether D.C. leaders were equipped to prevent the District from regressing to the social dysfunction and near municipal collapse of the late 20th century, when the city, overwhelmed by crack-fueled bloodshed, became known as America’s murder capital.
“It’s been a tough year,” Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said in an interview. “There is no doubt about that.”
With a rate of 40 homicides per 100,000 residents, the District was deadlier than 55 of the country’s 60 most populous cities, behind only New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore and Memphis. While homicides surged in Washington, they decreased in many other metropolises, including New York and Chicago.
In the graphs, black is for adults, orange-brown is for under 18.
Regardless of politics, there is no denying violent crime has gotten worse in my city. I've lived in the middle of the district and inside the beltway in VA and MD for the last 16 years. After 8 years in downtown DC I moved to Arlington last spring because of the shootings, carjackings, break-ins, and sirens at all hours. It is undeniably worse now than when I moved from MD to DC 8 years ago.
