Open Justice Baltimore

ALT In 1993, when Baltimore experienced 353 homicides—a record high number—the population was 724,671. The city’s murder rate that year was 48.7 murders per 100,000 people. In 2007, when O’Malley campaigned for governor on his success reducing murders via mass arrest, there were 282 murders. The population in 2007 was 606,006, making the murder rate 46.5 murders per 100,000 people. Comparing only the raw number of recorded homicides shows that there were 157 fewer murders in 2007 than in 1993. But accounting for population between those years reveals that the celebrated reduction in murders is a difference of only three people per 100,000. During this period, the population of Baltimore declined by 16% and murders dropped by 20%. Fewer people were killed in 2007 than 1993, but how much of that can actually be credited to policing is hard to determine. The city failed to protect nearly the same percentage of people from murder in 2007 as it did in the early ’90s.