Houston murders on the rise
January 12, 2023
The number of murders in Houston reached its highest point in more than a decade. Police have attributed at least 345 deaths in Houston to murder so far this year. The Houston Chronicle reports the total number of murders in 2020 could be higher than Houston's 376 murders in 2006.
From the article:
Howard Henderson, director of Texas Southern University’s Center for Justice Research, said the rise in murders is the first sign “that the system is breaking down.”
“There’s something going on,” Henderson said, pointing to a rise in inequality and diminished social services in a city that has been unable to keep up with years of massive growth.
“When you have unemployment, when you have educational deficiencies, when you have a taxing of all the resources, you see a rise in homicide,” he continued. The pandemic, he said, has exacerbated concentrated pockets of poverty and the high cost of living.