You may have heard that California's big cities are descending into chaos and criminality. You might think you know the half of it. But it's worse than you think:
Crews of burglars publicly smashing their way into Los Angeles' most exclusive stores. Robbers following their victims, including a star of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and a BET host, to their residences. And this week, the fatal shooting of 81-year-old Jacqueline Avant, an admired philanthropist and wife of music legend Clarence Avant, in her Beverly Hills home.
After two years of rising violent crime in Los Angeles, these incidents have sparked a national conversation and led to local concern about both the crimes themselves and where the outrage over the violence will lead...
While overall city crime rates remain far below records set during the notorious gang wars of the 1990s, violent crime has jumped sharply in L.A., as it has in other cities. Much of the violence has occurred in poor communities and among vulnerable populations, such as the homeless, and receives little attention.
However, since the start of the pandemic and more rapidly in recent months, crime has crept up in wealthier enclaves and thrust its way to the center of public discourse in L.A. — against a backdrop of COVID-19 angst, evolving political perceptions of what role police and prosecutors should play in society and, now, a holiday season upon which brick-and-mortar retailers are relying to stay afloat.
How bad are the actual numbers in Los Angeles?
Bad:
- Homicides are up 46.7% compared to 2019.
- Shooting victims are up 51.4%.
- There have been 359 homicides in L.A. in 2021 as of the end of November -- compared to 355 in all of 2020.
- The last year that compares was 2008, in which 384 were murdered in the city.
