The Chilling And Confusing Rise In Crime

Why is Charlotte on pace for more than 100 homicides for the first time in nearly a quarter-century?

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IN LATE MARCH, after Charlotte’s 22nd homicide of 2017, Charlotte- Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney stepped behind the lectern during a weekly news briefing at CMPD headquarters and asked if anyone had questions. The immediate question was so obvious that the reporter who asked it seemed momentarily embarrassed. “Um,” she began, “why is the violence getting worse?”

“Very good question,” Putney responded. “I wish I could tell you specifically and simply why that is.” The chief ticked off a series of potential explanations: repeat offenders committing progressively more serious crimes; the easy availability of guns in high-crime areas; and a fresh and troubling pattern of minor arguments between friends or acquaintances escalating to fatal gunshots or stabbings. But the ultimate cause, Putney said, “is beyond what we have the capacity to explain.”