California reported 2,202 homicides last year, an increase of 31% from the year before, for the deadliest year in the state since 2007, when 2,258 people were killed, according to data from the California Department of Justice.
The report, which was released Thursday, shows that the homicide rate increased from 4.2 homicides per 100,000 people to 5.5. African Americans were the highest proportion of homicide victims, at 31%, despite accounting for just 6.5% of the state’s population, and 45% of homicide victims were Hispanic, a demographic that makes up 39% of California’s population. Sixteen percent of homicide victims in the state were white, and the remaining 7.5% were of other race or ethnic groups.
In the homicide cases where the circumstances are known, 34% were due to an argument, 28% were related to gang activity, 8.5% were part of a rape, robbery, or burglary, and the remaining 6.7% were related to domestic violence. The state also noted that homicide arrests rose by 18%, from 1,352 in 2019 to 1,597 last year. Prior to 2020, California had seen a decline in homicides three years in a row.
"Having access to good data is critical for making good public policy," Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. "That’s true no matter what the statistics show. And, while violent crime rates are still well below their historical highs in the early 90s, the increases we’ve seen during this pandemic are unacceptable. In California and across the country, gun violence in particular continues to be a uniquely American health crisis."
Bonta added, "I applaud President [Joe] Biden for putting forward a comprehensive strategy to prevent and respond to gun crime and ensure public safety at the federal level. It’s going to take all of us working together to tackle this challenge, but I’m confident that — through violence intervention programs, community partnership, economic investment, restorative justice, and strategic deployment of law enforcement — we can get the job done. I encourage all members of the public to take a hard, careful look at this year’s reports to help us all better forge a path forward together."
Mia Bird Thursday, an expert from the University of California, Berkeley’s California Policy Lab, said in a recent report to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Committee on the Revision of the Penal Code that the COVID-19 pandemic and the following lockdown orders changed the state’s crime patterns in unpredictable ways.
Thursday said, according to Fox News: "We were really surprised by the increase in homicide, but also that California is looking at worst, in step with the rest of the country and is even maybe looking a little bit better than what we’re seeing nationally. What that tells us is that it’s not something special about California, it’s a really serious issue for California and for the rest of the country."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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