In light of the ongoing dialogue on the murder rate in Parliament (see here and here) and the tragic shooting last night of a UTECH medical student, diGJamaica has obtained crime statistics from January to October 24, 2015. We will have a full, charted discussion as we did in 2012, but for now here are ten key points:
- The murder rate has risen by 23% versus last year and now stood at 1,016 murders as at October 24
- Murders in Kingston, St. Andrew & St. Catherine were down by 1%, while murders in all other parishes were up a whopping 50%
- The top 5 most murderous parishes per 100,000 inhabitants, in order were: Kingston, St. James, Hanover, Westmoreland and Clarendon
- The top 3 parishes with the greatest increase in murders in order were: Westmoreland, Hanover and St. Thomas
- Only 1 parish noted a decrease in murders versus last year, this was Kingston
- The top 5 least murderous parishes per 100,000 inhabitants in order were: Portland, St. Elizabeth, St. Ann, St. Thomas and Manchester
- Jamaica’s overall murder rate for the year to October 24, 2015 was 37.7 persons per 100,000 inhabitants
- 3.4 persons were murdered a day on average per day up to October 24, 2015, up from 2.8 over the same period last year and 3.3 persons in 2013
- Total number of violent crimes was 19 per day in 2015, down from 22 in 2014 and 25 in 2013
- For the first time since 2009 (when the year ended with 1,683 murders), there were more reported murders than reports of shootings
Keep safe.
UPDATE: Commissioner of Police Dr Carl Williams today addressed a meeting of Parliament’s Internal and External Affairs Committee, where he shared some other important facts and statistics. See the Storified tweets from journalist Abka Fitz-Henley and human rights activist Susan Goffe below, or click here.
