After a Violent Year, a Search for Answers
The uptick in homicides seen in many U.S. cities during the Covid-19 crisis has left criminologists with several possible explanations — and lots of new questions.
Murders increased by 30% across 34 large U.S. cities in 2020, according to one study. But blaming one single cause can be tricky.
Photographer: Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images
When 2020 began, Julius Thibodeaux was feeling good about the trajectory of violent crime in Sacramento, California.
For the past two years, his nonprofit group Advance Peace had been organizing interventions with young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods and trying to steer them away from violence. They held career mentorship programs for young people from rival communities, bringing them together in a neutral setting to get to know their potential antagonists. It felt like progress: There hadn’t been any juvenile homicides in Sacramento for the previous two years. Though the city’s homicide rate remained higher than the state or the nation, it had fallen since the Great Recession.