{
  "id": "R45236",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R45236",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 582209,
      "date": "2018-06-20",
      "retrieved": "2018-06-27T13:27:55.090933",
      "title": "Recent Violent Crime Trends in the United States",
      "summary": "Media accounts of increasing violent crime rates, especially homicides, in some cities raise broad concerns about decreasing levels of public safety.\nThis report provides an analysis of changes in violent crime since 1960, with a focus on changes from 2014 to 2016 in violent crime and homicide rates in the 48 largest cities in the United States for which violent crime and homicide data were submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The results of the analysis suggest the following:\nAt the national level, violent crime and homicide rates increased from 2014 to 2015 and again from 2015 to 2016, but both rates remain near historical lows.\nViolent crime and homicide rates for the 48 largest cities in the United States with available data generally followed national-level trends, with some exceptions. For example, violent crime rates in cities of 500,000-999,999 people and 250,000-499,999 people decreased from 2014 to 2015, and the homicide rate in small cities of 50,000-99,999 people decreased from 2015 to 2016.\nSome of the largest cities in the United States saw increases in violent crime rates, homicide rates, or both from 2014 to 2015 and/or 2015 to 2016. For some of these cities, violent crime or homicide rates were the highest they have been in the past 20 years.\nRecent increases in violent crime and homicide in large cities have received a great deal of attention, but in smaller communities violent crime and homicide rates also increased from 2014 to 2015 and again from 2015 to 2016, although not as much as in the largest cities. \nThe \u201cFerguson effect\u201d is one of the more widely discussed, and controversial, explanations for the recent increases in violent crime. It refers to the assertion that crime has increased recently because police are avoiding proactive policing tactics out of fear of repercussions for the use of aggressive tactics. There is a small but growing body of literature on the Ferguson effect, and the evidence is mixed. For example, recent research conducted by a Johns Hopkins University sociologist found some evidence of a post-Ferguson decrease in arrests and a post-Ferguson increase in crime in Baltimore. However, the research did not reveal a causal link between the decreasing arrests and increasing crime. Additionally, studies of the Ferguson effect have generally focused on a single state or specific cities, which make the results of these studies non-generalizable to other jurisdictions.\nPolicymakers might consider various options to assist cities that have seen an increase in violent crime and homicide rates. These include providing additional assistance to local governments through existing grant programs such as the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation, and Community Oriented Policing Services\u2019 hiring programs; authorizing and appropriating funding for a new grant program that would provide assistance to local governments to implement evidence-based violent crime prevention programs; or providing additional resources to allow the Department of Justice to expand its National Public Safety Partnership.",
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      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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          "source": "IBCList",
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}