By: Tripp Vistica
Oct. 19, 2020
Many experts working for popular news outlets predicted that the number of violent crimes would increase in 2020 due to COVID-19, and the city of Memphis is proof that they were correct. Memphis has already had more homicides in the city’s history with 230 and three months still to go in 2020. In 2016, the city of Memphis had their highest number of homicides with 228 for the entire year, and Memphis has already passed that number by the end of September. Despite the number of homicides this year, it’s not certain that Memphis will set a new record for the city’s homicide rate, because the city’s population for 2020 has to be calculated into the number of homicides, so the city has to wait till the end of the year to know Memphis’s 2020 population and homicide rate.
To a lot of people, the increase in the number of violent crimes was expected. Many experts believed that street crimes, like burglaries and home invasions, would go down, but the number of violent crimes, like homicide and assault, would go up. It was predicted by experts that most violent crimes would occur between people that spend a lot of time together, and especially between people that live together. So far, the numbers indicate that they were correct when they made this assumption after stores and restaurants started shutting down and people were forced to stay home most of the time due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
When the coronavirus hit and most restaurants and bars started shutting down, people could no longer go out and have a drink with friends or family. People were forced to stay home, but people could still buy alcohol in stores which has led to an increase of people drinking at home. The viral outbreak that has lasted over seven months now has put a lot of stress, anxiety and anger on a lot of people, and adding alcohol consumption to an already tumultuous situation is a recipe for disaster.
University of Memphis (UofM) criminal justice professor, Dr. Stephen Watts, believes the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot stress on many people, because they are more worried about their finances, keeping their job and a steady income. Many people’s stress has led to anger which has led to violent crimes and an extremely high amount of homicides.
“Yes, I’m fairly certain that COVID-19 has caused an increase in violence”, said Watts. “That makes total sense to me.”
The increase in violence and homicides have mostly been an interpersonal conflict, and the nature of a lot of the homicide and assault cases in Memphis have been domestic conflicts. However, this was expected from the very beginning by experts working for major and popular news outlets, just as they had predicted the decrease of street crimes and the increase in violent crimes in the beginning of April.
UofM criminal justice professor, Dr. Amaia Iratzoqui, specializes in domestic violence, and she describes homicide as the intentional killing of one human being by another.
Therefore, some of the homicide cases may not actually be a homicide, but some kind of trauma or injury that later led to the loss of a life. These cases would increase the death rate, but not necessarily the homicide rate. However, the police can go back and update their case files even years after the initial report, so the number of homicides in a year could possibly be later changed if they need to be.
“In terms of domestic violence, aggravated assault domestic violence cases are up, meaning that cases that are more severe in nature are higher than before”, Iratzoqui said. “In addition, these cases, which may result in the death of the victim, may not necessarily be classified as homicide at first.”
We are living in an unprecedented time in world history with many lives being lost from the coronavirus, while more lives are also being lost due to homicides and domestic violence. The city of Memphis has been a major contributor to this problem with 230 homicides in only nine months, and there’s a great chance the number of homicides in Memphis will continue throughout the next three months.
There is no doubt that Memphis will have the most homicides in the city’s history by the end of 2020, and by the year’s end the number of homicides in Memphis will be astonishingly horrific.
Tripp Vistica 