U.S. homicide rates spiked in June, new data shows, and criminologists and community activists say they believe the effects of lockdowns and the coronavirus pandemic may be to blame. Across 20 major cities, the murder rate at the end of June was on average 37 percent higher than it was at the end of May. Although U.S. homicides do historically tick up during the summer, the increase over the same period a year ago was just 6 percent. President Donald Trump has attempted to tie the increase to efforts to “shut down policing” and police officials in several cities have blamed the wave of racial-justice protests for diverting officers and emboldening criminals. But criminologists have pointed to the pandemic’s destabilization of community institutions. “I’m sure there will be academic studies for years to come as to what caused the spike of 2020,” Tim Garrison, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri told the New York Times. “I’m sure the lockdown didn’t help. When you already have a stressed economic situation and you put a lot of folks out of work, and a lot of teenagers out of school, it’s a volatile situation.”
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