Giving Compass' Take:
- Elizabeth Allen reports on Boston's homicide rate dropping to a historic low, already exceeding the city's goal of a 20 percent reduction by 2026.
- What factors contribute to violent crime rates falling across the country? Why do media narratives often paint a different, more concerning picture of crime in the U.S.?
- Learn more about key issues in criminal justice and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on criminal justice in your area.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
This past May, Mayor Michelle Wu hailed Boston as “one of the safest major cities in the country.” Wu’s statement was not grandstanding; recent data bears out her claim, and the city has made headlines throughout the past year for its public safety numbers. No statistic is more remarkable than Boston's homicide rate, which has plummeted in 2024.
In the first quarter of 2024, Boston's homicide rate led major United States cities in year-to-date homicide declines, dropping 82 percent. Extended through June 30, data showed homicide numbers for 2024 had fallen by 78 percent compared to the same time in 2023.
Now, on the cusp of autumn, the downward trend in Boston's homicide rate persists. There have been 14 reported homicide incidents to date this year; according to Boston Police Department (BPD) data, at this time last year, there had been 29 reported.
Just a year after city leaders announced a plan to diminish Boston's annual homicide rate by 20 percent by 2026—32 incidents or less—they are more than making good on the goal.
Boston’s 37 homicides in 2023 marked a historic low—a record that now stands to be significantly bested. Last year, too, saw the least gun violence recorded in city history. This downswing in violence is not a fluke, but the fruition of years of government cooperation and civilian-led efforts.
Although Boston's Homicide Rate Is Declining, Racial Disparities Persist
Despite these strides, however, public safety in Boston is highly stratified by race. According to BPD data, approximately 80 percent of shootings between 2018 and 2023 were isolated to four neighborhoods, most of which are predominantly non-white—Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, and Roxbury—and about four in five victims were Black.
Speaking with Vera, Dr. Rufus Faulk—who served as senior adviser for community safety to both Mayor Wu and former Mayor Marty Walsh—cautioned against myopic or premature declarations of victory. “You’d be hard-pressed to tell people who live in certain neighborhoods that violence is down if they’ve experienced a homicide in their neighborhood every year for 30 years of their life,” he said.
Read the full article about Boston's homicide rate by Elizabeth Allen at Vera Institute of Justice.