Murder surge hits highest level in 60 years, says FBI

America has suffered the greatest surge in murders since its records began 60 years ago, eclipsing the historic rise seen in the year of Martin Luther King’s assassination, according to the FBI. Murders rose by 29 per cent in 2020, more than double the 12.7 per cent of 1968, the previous record. That year included the murders of King and Robert Kennedy. The murder rate is now the highest since the 1990s. The bureau’s Uniform Crime Report said that there were almost 21,500 murders, nearly 5000 more than the previous year. While this raw figure was less than the tolls seen in the early 1990s the sudden rise has alarmed pundits.