Brittany Kriegstein
Gothamist and WNYC Radio
August 14, 2024

As most violent crime rates continue to drop in New York City, a new report shows that serious assaults are on the rise — and researchers behind the findings aren’t exactly sure why.

… But Vital City’s report shows that crime rates per capita in New York City are still lower than many other major cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and Philadelphia.

Jeffrey Butts, a professor and director of the Research and Evaluation Center at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said any jump in crime stats is significant — but noted that it must also be evaluated within the context of the city’s history, population size and its place among other similar cities.

“It’s not hard to get triple digits of an increase in New York City, but on a per-capita basis, that might be a very minor blip compared to a smaller town that has a much higher per-capita rate of crime, but the numbers sound lower,” Butts said.

Issues with reporting crimes can also complicate the data.

“In some neighborhoods, you might have high degrees of assault that people just don’t report,” Butts said, citing fears around communicating with police.

The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the rise in reported felony assaults, or any steps the department is taking to address it.

Getting to the bottom of who perpetrates assaults — and how to address the problem — is difficult, the experts said.

“Most of the time it’s a moment where they lose control, and those moments are caused by stresses in their lives,” Butts said. “So it could be housing issues, income, family trauma. Look at things like the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. If it’s stranger on stranger, is it inter-group? Is it inter-family? Is this in the context of drug use, alcohol use?”

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