Murder rates in Boston have been slashed by 78 percent thanks to a violent crime crackdown launched by officials last Spring.
New statistics show the city’s law-enforcement are easily beating their target to reduce incidents of homicide by 20 percent in three years.
Compared to the same six-month period in 2023 from January 1 to June 23, Boston has seen its murder cases plummet from 18 to 4.
Crime stats also show that the number of rapes has fallen by 39.7 percent – from 90 down to 67 – as Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox lauded the city’s efforts.
‘We are doing so many things, and hopefully it is having an impact,’ he told the New York Times.
Boston has seen a staggering 78 percent drop in homicide rates so far in 2024, alongside a 39.7 percent drop in rapes, as officials praise a recent violent crime crackdown
Nationwide, crime rates surged during the pandemic, with widespread murder, rape and robbery rates increasing in major cities across the country.
Cox admitted that part of Boston’s staggering drop can be put down to a general nationwide trend where violent crime rates dropped in the first quarter of 2024, alongside being helped by the demographics of the city.
Boston also owns a smaller population than most major cities at just 650,000 people, which tend to help city officials reduce crimes through specific, targeted prevention efforts.
And while Cox stressed that he did not wish to jinx it only halfway through the year, just four murders over the past six months is a staggering drop from a city-high 73 in the whole of 2010.
According to the Times, the drive to reduce crime has been steered by Mayor Michelle Wu, as her administration utilized historical crime data to target specific hotspots in the city.
Dubbed ‘micro-locations’, which can reportedly be as specific as a single intersection – the system allows law enforcement to better understand where to put their resources.
Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said the city is ‘doing so many things’ to bring crime rates down, including targeting specific crime hotspots throughout the city
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has been praised for her efforts to bring crime down throughout the city, which has included using historical crime data to manage resources
The campaign has also aimed to reduce repeat offending and reaches out to past offenders and victims alike to understand why they ran into crime and what they need to avoid it again.
‘Boston is a place where 40 percent of violent crime happens on 4 percent of city streets, and where a very small number of people drive a significant part of the violence,’ Isaac Yablo, the mayor’s advisor for community safety, told the Times.
‘So when you go and get to know the people, eventually you’re going to know the people involved.’
So far this year, the first of the four murders began on New Year’s Day, when Fernandes Nilton, 24, was shot to death in the town of Dorchester.
Two bodies were then found on February 26, when convicted rapist Keith Ashby, 43, fatally shot and killed Aanya Vinay, 25, then killed himself in the Moxy Hotel.
George Deeble, 42, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound around 4:45am on April 27, becoming the third victim of the year. By the same time in 2023, Boston had already seen 13 murders.
The last and most recent murder in Boston this year was the fatal shooting of Pereshah Shear-Yashub, 27, in Dorchester, when she was shot inside a home at around 11:15pm on May 31.
Pereshah Shear-Yashub, 27, was the fourth and most recent murder victim in Boston, after she was shot inside a Dorchester home on May 31
George Deeble, 42, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound around 4:45am on April 27, becoming the third victim of the year. By the same time in 2023, Boston had already seen 13 murders
Aanya Vinay, 25, was tragically found dead inside the Moxy Hotel on February 26 alongside a convicted rapist, who cops said killed himself
The first of the four murders in Boston this year began on New Year’s Day, when Fernandes Nilton, 24, was shot to death in the town of Dorchester
Mr. Yablo said efforts to reduce the number of victims throughout the year will aim to ‘engage 100 percent of the individuals most likely to shoot or be shot.’
Although some similar campaigns have previously sparked fears over racial profiling, officials insist they are just being practical.
Thomas Abt, the founding director of the Violence Reduction Center at the University of Maryland who worked with Wu’s administration, described it as ‘just smart policy.’
‘They’re carefully identifying people they should spend more time on, based on past behavior.’
In an attempt to capitalize on the extremely low crime rates, last month Mayor Wu launched Boston’s first ever ‘Plan to End Violence’, with the ultimate aim to bring it down to zero.
‘When the goal is to reduce violence, or respond to it better, it subconsciously sends the message that there’s not much you can do,’ Yablo concluded to the Times.
‘This strategy is – prevent it.’
