Milwaukee Had a Bad Year - 2013 City Homicide Tally to 106

Annette Payne cries during a vigil Monday for Milwaukee’s homicide victims in 2013 at St. Gabriels Church of God. Payne’s son Keenen, 16, was killed in August.

Local news reports

A fatal shooting on New Year's Eve and a couple of nonfatal shootings concluded a violent year in Milwaukee in which more people were killed by assailants than in any since 2005.

If the unofficial tally holds up, Milwaukee will have had 106 homicides in 2013, the largest number of such deaths in the tenure of Police Chief Edward A. Flynn, who was hired more than five years ago.

Police have released few details of Tuesday's fatal shooting. A man was found on the street in the 7400 block of W. Appleton Ave. No one had been arrested Wednesday in that death, a department spokesman said.

Two other people were shot in separate cases Tuesday night, and two nonfatal shootings happened in the early hours of Wednesday.

An arrest was made in one of Tuesday's shootings and one of the shootings Wednesday morning.

Much of the last year's violence occurred in August, which saw 20 homicides. That month also had the third-highest monthly number of nonfatal shootings — 78 — since the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission began keeping those records in 2006.

The violence spilled over into September, when 14 more homicides were recorded.

More on the Intentional Homicide Rate

via Radamisto

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Long-term Homicide Rates

via TYWKIWDBI

The American data is consistent with European data... Do note that some correction should be made for the fact that violence is less lethal when people are healthier and medical care is more effective.

The bottom line is that there has been a big and welcome decrease in homicide rates in Europe and America over the past several centuries. To put these numbers in perspective, however, note that the homicide rate in New Orleans today is 52 per 100,000 and in Detroit it’s 40 per 100,000 so even with a lower average there is lots of variation. Brazil today is around 22 per 100,000 not too far from America in the 19th century. The homicide rate in El Salvador is 71 per 100,000, in Jamaica (!) 60 per 100,000 and in Honduras 67 per 100,000 — all higher than fifteenth century Europe. Thus, the past was a more violent place but not so violent as to be unknown to the present.