Policing problems

Violent crime in America

Special reports - Sep 17th 2022

After a long decline, violent crime in America is rising again. Daniel Knowles looks at what can be done

101 pairs of shoes and a casket are laid out during a vigil to represent the 101 shooting victims in the 74 gun violence incidents that took place over the past week throughout New York City on July 8, 2020 at Borough Hall in New York. - The vigil is honoring recent victims of shootings in New York, with mothers who have lost children to gun violence and anti-violence advocates. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

How to stop the killing

After a long decline, violent crime in America is rising again. In this special report Daniel Knowles looks at what can be done

Police tape is seen outside the Robb Elementary School, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a decade, in Uvalde, Texas, U.S. May 30, 2022. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

The sociology of murder

An anatomy of hard times in the city

What underlies inner-city murders in America

A flag flies over a department of corrections building ablaze during protests, late Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis., sparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha Police officer a day earlier. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

The global context

American exceptionalism exists, but other countries also have problems

The rise in violent crime in America is almost unique, but not wholly

Police officers and detectives investigate at the scene of a fatal police-involved shooting of Ronald Johnson, 25, who was shot Oct. 12, 2014, in the 5300 block of South King Drive in Chicago. Police at the time said Johnson pointed a weapon at officers during a foot chase, and one officer fired shots at Johnson, who died at a hospital. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Solving murders

America is unusually bad at clearing up homicides

Why are inner-city murders so hard to solve?

FOR USE AS DESIRED, YEAR END PHOTOS - FILE - A protester throws a tear gas canister back toward riot police after a 10 p.m. curfew went into effect in the wake of Monday's riots following the funeral for Freddie Gray, Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimore. Gray suffered a spinal injury in police custody and later died. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

Decline and reform

How Baltimore became a sad harbinger of the future

How an east-coast city gave warning of what would come

A Protester hold a sign reading "Defund the Police" outside Hennepin County Government Plaza during a demonstration against police brutality and racism on August 24, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. - It was the second day of demonstrations in Kenosha after video circulated Sunday showing the shooting of Jacob Blake -- multiple times, in the back, as he tried to get in his car, with his three children watching. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP) (Photo by KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images)

The politics of policing

The public wants to refund, not defund, the police

Progressive prosecutors are losing ground across America

Chicago, Illinois -- Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019..Terrance Henderson speaks with a young participant (under 18, so could not ID/release)...Partnering with community agencies on the West and South Sides of Chicago, Chicago CRED offers holistic wraparound services including job training to disconnected young men in need of support..CREDIT: Alyssa Schukar for CRED/Emerson Collective

Alternatives to policing

How softer non-policing strategies might help

The hopes of, and limits to, non-policing anti-violence strategies

TOPSHOT - A protesters takes a moment while speaking to the crowd as they march through Hollywood during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis Police custody, in Los Angeles, California, June 2, 2020. - Anti-racism protests have put several US cities under curfew to suppress rioting, following the death of George Floyd in police custody. (Photo by Kyle Grillot / AFP) (Photo by KYLE GRILLOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Conclusion

Stopping the spiral of murder and violent crime

America has relied too long on a toxic combination of over- and under-policing

Violent crime

Sources and acknowledgments

Previous report

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