The Perfect Conditions That Created The Homicide Spike In 2020 – More Guns, Pandemic Stress And A Police Legitimacy Crisis
Justin Nix, University of Nebraska Omaha
Homicides in the U.S. spiked by almost 30% in 2020.
That was the main takeaway from figures released on Sept. 27, 2021, by the FBI that showed almost uniform increases across America in the murder rate.
The fact that big cities, small cities, suburbs and rural areas – in both blue and red states – experienced similar increases in homicides suggests that nationwide events or trends were behind the rise.
The COVID-19 pandemic would be one obvious explanation given its pervasiveness in 2020. But as a criminologist, I know that homicide rates are affected by a number of factors. And what happened in 2020 was a confluence of events that created the perfect conditions for a spike in murders.
Stress and a lack of support
COVID-19 likely did have an imp...