After decades of steady decline, violent crime worldwide is escalating, as Alan Austin reports.
IN THE 17 DAYS after American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated earlier this month, 584 Americans were shot and killed. Another 133 were injured by firearm attacks. The epidemic continues.
Tragic and senseless though this certainly is to the watching world, the situation is worse in other parts of the Americas, although vastly better elsewhere.
Downward trend now reversing
According to the World Bank and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, homicide rates have surged in four developed countries in the decade from 2014 to 2024 — all in the Americas. These are Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and the USA.
The history of murders across the developed world is intriguing. Since 1990, when the World Bank first counted homicides, they have steadily declined, with only a few nations resisting this trend.
Average homicides per population for the 38 developed OECD members reached their zenith in 2014. See chart below.
Although the 2014 average was 2.73 deaths per 100,000 population, most countries were well below that. In fact, 21 were at or below 1%, another eight were below 2% and only four were above 5%. They were Lithuania (5.4%), Costa Rica (10.0%), Mexico (16.7%) and Colombia (28.7%). Clearly, the latter two skewed the average significantly.
Fast forward to 2024, and the situation has worsened. The average is now 3.07 and only 19 countries are at or below 1.0, with five above 5.0 per 100,000 population, including the USA. See chart below.
On the positive side, Colombia has reduced its murder rate by 3.8 per 100,000 and Lithuania by 2.8. Other nations to reduce their rates include Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Finland, Denmark, Japan and Australia.
The safest countries today are Japan, South Korea, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Crime in Australia edging up
Crime data for 2024 released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier this month shows the murder rate reached its lowest since records have been kept in 2021 — at 0.92 homicides per 100,000 population. The number has crept up since then, reaching 1.02 in 2022, back to 1.01 in 2023, then jumping to 1.21 in 2024.
The raw numbers in those four years were, chronologically, 237, 264, 267 and 305. The 2024 high appears due to domestic violence.
Violence in Trump’s America
The data on all classifications of assaults in the United States shows steady decreases from 1960 to 2015, when the pact between President Donald Trump and Fox News was sealed. In exchange for open access to all their talk programs, Trump agreed to make his major announcements on Murdoch’s TV network first. These included his incitements to violence against political enemies.
As analysed here, here and here, this resulted in huge exposure for Trump, greatly increased ratings for Fox and caused thousands more killings across the nation. See chart below.
Trump inspires the killers
Confirmation that Trump has provoked violence comes from all the trial courts where defence attorneys have argued that defendants were following Trump’s orders.
At least 15 attempted murderers used this defence before January 2021, including Cesar Sayoc in 2018, referred to here earlier this month.
Another was Curt Brockway, who copped ten years for violent assault in 2019.
Brockway's attorney said of his actions:
“His commander in chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn a flag, they should be punished.”
At least 210 defendants in trials arising from the 6 January insurrection also tried this argument. Most failed after Judge Amit Mehta in the Columbia District Court disallowed this defence on the basis that Trump had no lawful authority to order violent crimes.
Last year, the trial of Justin Mohn for the gruesome murder of his father heard multiple references to Trump, although the defence that Mohn was following Trump’s instruction was not permitted.
In total, at least 235 recent criminal trials have heard testimony that Trump was the inspiration for violent attacks.
There is no evidence in any trial court of other American political leaders having ever inspired violent crimes.
Urgings to hate escalating
Tragically for America, Trump’s calls for hatred and violence are continuing.
The day after Charlie Kirk’s murder, Trump said:
“We have radical left lunatics out there and we just have to beat the hell out of them.”
Ten days later, Trump said at Kirk’s memorial:
“That's where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them. I am sorry, Erika, but I can't stand my opponent.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told the memorial that Trump’s opponents were inhuman, implying permission to destroy:
“For those trying to foment hatred against us. What do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness... You are hatred! You are nothing!”
Last Thursday, Trump told reporters in the White House:
“The radical Left is causing the problem... Bad things happen when they play these games. I'll give you a little clue, the Right is a lot tougher than the Left.”
In contrast, Democratic leader Kamala Harris tweeted on 11 September:
‘I am deeply disturbed by the shooting in Utah. Doug and I send our prayers to Charlie Kirk and his family. Let me be clear: Political violence has no place in America. I condemn this act and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.’
The American media, including social media, ensures Donald drowns out Kamala.
Alan Austin is an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @alanaustin001.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
Support independent journalism Subscribe to IA.
Related Articles
- Trump's war on truth a threat to democracy
- Trump’s MAGA is not engaging in democracy, they are destroying it
- Global economic times are tough — especially for the corrupt and inept
- CARTOONS: How to 'deal with the business' of Donald Trump
- The vector of political killings in the USA is still Donald Trump
