Chicago Violence Contributes To Nationwide Increase In Murders: FBI Crime Report

CHICAGO, IL - Murders and violent crimes rose in Chicago in 2016, according to data released Monday in the FBI's annual crime report. The statistics reveal Chicago's uptick in killings played a large role in 2016's nation-wide violent crime surge. According to the FBI report, there were 765 homicides in Chicago in 2016, compared to 478 murders in 2015, marking the deadliest year in nearly two decades.

Here is a comparison of the FBI's crime statistics in Chicago between 2015 and 2016:

According to the FBI report, there were 24,663 violent crime offenses in Chicago in 2015, compared with 30,126 in 2016. The report finds there were more than 5,000 violent crime offenses in 2016 compared to 2015, and property crime also saw an uptick of more than 5,000 offenses.

According to the Chicago Police Department, the city saw a surge in gun violence in 2016: there were 3,550 shooting incidents, and 4,331 shooting victims.

The city's crime spike played a large role in the rise in violent crime across the U.S. for a second straight year, accounting for more than 20 percent of the nationwide murder rate increase. The 11 largest cities with populations greater than 1 million saw a 20 percent murder increase and a 7.2 percent violent crime increase.

Watch: Violent Crime In The US Increased For The 2nd Year In A Row Last Year

The data release comes as President Donald Trump continues to depict Chicago as a "war zone." In his inaugural address, the President described what he calls the "carnage" in many American cities; however, the FBI's latest national figures are below crime rates seen in previous decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, U.S. murder and violent crime rates were consistently higher. In 1995, the rate was 8.2 murders per 100,000 people, according to FBI data. In both 2013 and 2014, the rate was 4.5 murders per 100,000 people.

Experts at The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University say that overall, the data from the FBI show a decrease in the national crime rate for the 15th year in a row. While violent crime is up, the overall crime rate decreased by 1.4 percent in 2016, according to the center’s analysis.

“The FBI’s data show trends similar to what we’ve found for crime, murder, and violence in 2016,” Ames Grawert, a counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, said in a statement. “Crime remains near historic lows, with an uptick in murder and violence driven in part by problems in some of our nation’s largest cities. At the same time, other cities like New York are keeping crime down.”

A preliminary analysis of crime in 2017 by the Brennan Center estimates that the rates of overall crime, violence and murder in the 30 largest cities will all decrease in 2017.

The Chicago Police Department said it will be adding nearly 1,000 positions to help combat crime over the next two years, including 500 new patrol officers and 92 field training officers to help train the new recruits.

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