(The Center Square) – While Mississippi’s homicide rate is higher than the national average the state’s overall violent crime rate sits below the national average, one public policy group said.
Empower Mississippi’s new crime report, “Violent Crime in Mississippi: A Data-Supported Analysis and Evidence-Based Solutions,” highlights crime data from the FBI and reflects that the violent homicide rate in the state has increased 66% from 2017 to 2020.
The report, according to the release, discusses the possible causes that are behind crime spikes and provides policy solutions designed to reduce incidents of violent crime. Recent criminal justice reforms are not the cause of the spikes.
“Crime affects everyone, directly or indirectly, and everyone should be concerned about it,” Empower Mississippi Senior Advisor Forest Thigpen said in a release. “Families, churches, communities, and, of course, government all have roles in addressing it. To do that, we need to start with the facts, and that’s what this report is intended to do.”
To address violent crime, Empower Mississippi recommends:
• Properly funding law enforcement to attract, pay, and train officers.
• Focus on limited law-enforcement resources for the most serious offenses.
• Addressing mental health and addiction issues.
• Preparing those incarcerated with job and life skills and mental or addiction treatment while in prison.
According to the release, the homicide rate in Jackson doubled over a span of three years. The city, in 2020, accounted for 6% of the state’s population but had 52% of homicides in Mississippi.
The report says the violent crime rate, including rape, aggravated assault, and robbery on top of homicide, in 2020 was 27% lower than the national rate. The rate was lower than eight other states in the region.
In 2019, according to the report, Mississippi’s violent crime rate was lower than it was at the beginning of the decade. The sharp increase in 2020 was credited to causing the 8% increase for the decade.
“We also need public policy solutions that are based in evidence, not just ones that sound right on the surface,” Thigpen said in the release. “Otherwise, we spend a lot of taxpayers’ money and don’t actually reduce violent crime.”
The report, according to the release, focused on recent criminal justice reforms that were legislatively approved.
“What we found was that all states experienced spikes in homicides in 2020, including those that implemented justice reforms similar to those passed by Mississippi and those that did not,” Thigpen said in the release. “In fact, the most significant increases in violent crime in our region occurred in two states that have not enacted criminal justice reforms.”
According to the release, the state has the highest incarceration rate in the country. A new report from the state’s Department of Corrections shows the number incarcerated is higher than it was in 2019, two years following the passage of a parole reform bill. However, in 2021, drug and nonviolent crimes accounted for nearly two-thirds of the state’s prison population.
