As nationwide BLM riots raged, homicides, especially Black-on-Black homicides, surged across the country. Cleveland experienced its highest homicide rate in the city’s history that year. Homicides have remained high in 2021 and 2022.
A report from the Cleveland Department of Public Works gives us a clearer picture of the full extent of the carnage that occurred in Cleveland in 2020.
Gunshot wound hospitalizations increased by well over 50%. Domestic violence hospitalizations over doubled. Motor vehicle accidents also increased by about a third. This data indicates a general increase in lawlessness.
Cleveland:
1972: 333 (715k, 46.3 per 100k) – Previous all time record
1982: 195 (582k, 33.5 per 100k) – Spike in the 80s
2010: 75 (396k, 18.9 per 100k)
2019: 123 (381k, 32.3 per 100k)
2020: 177 (372k, 47.6 per 100k) – New all time record*
2021: 170 (368k, 46.2 per 100k)
2022: At least 159 so far…
*The Cleveland Department of Public Works places the homicide rate at 52.8 per 100k. However, we have discovered that government employees tend to be bad at arithmetic. Or they may have included negligent vehicular homicides, which are not typically included. We believe our figure of 47.6 per 100k is more accurate.
Between 1972 and 2020, the average age in Cleveland rose by as much as ten years. Keep in mind that crimes rates normally decline as the average age increases.
Suburban Cuyahoga County (outside Cleveland):
2019: 32 (855k, 3.7 per 100k)
2020: 48 (856k, 5.6 per 100k)
2021: 71 (882k, 8.0 per 100k)
2022: unknown…
The Cleveland Department of Public Works published gunshot wound rates that are incredible:
Even more shocking than the surge in non-fatal gunshot wounds is the massive surge in domestic violence related hospital visits in 2020 and 2021:
Note: The report says 88% of visits were women and 30% are people under the age of 18.
Motor vehicle accident [MVA] fatalities also surged in 2020:
