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Charleston Reporter

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Violent crime escalates faster in Charleston than elsewhere in South Carolina

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Violent crime has increased in Charleston and elsewhere in South Carolina. | Adobe Stock

Violent crime has increased in Charleston and elsewhere in South Carolina. | Adobe Stock

According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, violent crime continues to escalate in Charleston and elsewhere in South Carolina.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer (CDE) website, violent crime in the state has increased by about 6% from 2018 to 2020, the most recent year for which data is available.  

Citing data from the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), murders increased in the state, putting Gov. Henry McMaster’s office on alert. The numbers are particularly alarming in Charleston and neighboring Greenville County. 

“In Charleston and Greenville counties – two of the fastest growing regions of the state – murders climbed from 46 to 56 (a 21.7% increase) and 34 to 43 (a 26.5% increase), respectively,” Will Folks, a former press secretary for the governor’s office, told FitsNews.com. “In Richland County, where growth has been stagnant, murders dipped from 53 to 42 – a decline of 20.7%.”

The state’s 2020 violence crime rate, according to the CDE website, saw 530.7 cases per 100,000 people were reported in 2020, the highest since 2012, when the rate was 560.5 incidents per 100,000 people. Moreover, the website noted that the South Carolina homicide rate jumped 30% over the past four years. 

The Manhattan Institute’s Heather McDonald offered some insight to the Independent Women’s Forum in May.

“The rise in crime we’ve seen since the George Floyd death and the riots over the summer is astounding,” she told the organization. “Last year we saw the largest percentage increase in homicides in this nation’s history and it’s gotten worse in 2021.” 

The nature of the crime also has many people in Charleston on edge because of the sheer nature of the acts in the city. There is a sharp increase in homicides (up 112%), aggravated assaults (up 32%) and rapes (up 5%). And the Palmetto State is not alone, with the FBI reporting a 30% increase in homicides, the largest jump since the bureau began tracking homicides more than 50 years ago. 

“It is the largest increase in 100 years,” Robert Anderson, chief of mortality statistics branch for the National Center for Health Statistics, told CNN. 

The homicide rate in the country was six homicides per 100,000 people in 2019 and increased to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2020, CNN reports. It is the highest rate since 1995, but still lower than the 10 homicides per 100,000 seen in the 1980s.

As crime continues to escalate in Charleston and elsewhere in the state, McDonald told Fox News earlier this year that police retirements were up 45%, while resignations increased 10%. She told the network that the rash of retirements and resignations came in the wake of the rise in “defund the police” efforts across the country. 

With many police leaving the ranks, those who remain are in a difficult position, with the Fraternal Order of Police reporting that police had been targeted in 75 ambush-style attacks this year, while 241 officers were shot, and 44 were killed. 

The SLED data also noted that guns were used as a weapon in 84% of the murder cases in 2020, with the suspect knowing the victim in 58% of cases, according to the data. 

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