Homicides down in Chicago, mirroring national trend

Homicides in Chicago may be declining this year, but rape and robberies are on the rise, according to a midyear survey of large U.S. law enforcement agencies.

The big picture: Chicago is part of a national trend captured in the survey by the Major Cities Chiefs Associations, which shows that homicides are dropping in most major U.S. cities while other violent crimes are increasing.

• Homicides decreased 2.4% in major cities from Jan. 1 to June 30 compared with the same period last year, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. Meanwhile, overall crime spiked 4.2%.

Zoom in: The survey shows Chicago saw 10% fewer homicides through the first six months of 2022 compared with the same period in 2021.

• Homicides dropped from 344 to 311 during that period.
• And aggravated assaults dropped from 8,038 to 7,765.

Yes, but: Certain crimes over the last two years, particularly carjackings, have hit record levels. So far, 2022 is on track to match last year. So even if the pace marginally decreases, that's still not a big victory.

• Rape cases rose from 860 in 2021 to 914 in 2022, while robberies jumped from 3,261 to 3,910.

The big picture: Crime in the surveyed cities is still way up over pre-pandemic levels, with a 50% increase in homicides and a roughly 36% increase in aggravated assaults compared with the MCCA's 2019 midyear report.

Of note: The survey isn't official crime data. But it's used to gauge crime trends ahead of the release of October's FBI Uniform Crime Report.