Baltimore’s Homicide Rate is Down From 2015 — But Up Over Every Other Year on Record
by
Wcbm
Two killings amid a rash of gunfire Tuesday and the reclassification of an older shooting as an additional homicide this week pushed the 2016 death toll in Baltimore to 310 — making this year the city’s second deadliest on record on a per capita basis.
As of Wednesday, the annual homicide rate stood at 50 killings per 100,000 residents, second only to the record high rate of 55.2 killings per 100,000 residents in 2015, when 344 people were killed. That means that one out of every 2,000 people in Baltimore has been killed this year — a staggering pace that puts Baltimore, population about 620,000, among the deadliest cities not only in the country, but in the world.
And while homicides are down slightly compared to 2015, non-fatal shootings are up. As of Dec. 17, there had been a total of 899 shootings in the city — the exact same total as last year. Most of those killed have been young, black men, another similarity to 2015.
The situation in Baltimore has played prominently in national analyses of violent crime and its fluctuations over the past two years.
