New York ended 2020 with over 40% more homicides than 2019

New York City, long hailed for a tough-on-crime approach that transformed the city from a murder capital to what was touted as a model for proactive policing, finished the year with a more-than-40% murder spike compared to 2019.

Data posted by the New York Police Department showed 447 homicides having occurred year-to-date in the city by Dec. 27. That's compared to 317 for the same length of time in 2019, a 41% increase.

Those numbers do not take into account the final four days in the year. The final full week in New York City, meanwhile, saw 10 murders total, compared to 3 in 2019 — a 233% increase, the city police department noted.

New York's spike has occurred alongside highly elevated murder rates in cities nationwide, which occurred alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, months of lockdowns and shutdowns and resultant economic devastation, and major riots and unrest led by Black Lives Matter activism over the summer.