One Out of Every 12 People in the U.S. Were Murdered in 1921

Every hour, somewhere in the United States, a man’s life is taken. There were more than 9,500 “unlawful” homicides in this country in 1921. One of every 12,000 Americans is murdered every year, whereas the figure in Europe is one out of every 634,000. A prominent writer states “When a prospective assassin in America is about to pull the trigger, he knows that he will have three powerful friends if he commits the deed. These three friends are Sentimentality, the New Psychology, and Technicality. So he pulls the trigger and takes his chance.”

From the editorial page of the Moore County News, Carthage, N.C., Oct. 18, 1923

The U.S. murder rate in 2020 rose from about 6 homicides per 100,000 people in 2019 to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2020. However, it remains below the rates of the early 1990s, 1980s and 1970s. The murder rate varies by state with Louisiana having the highest rate of 14.4 per 100,000.