The surge in crime rates has left many Americans lost about what should happen to people who commit crimes if politicians and police aren't handling crimes. Despite those figures, data from the Brennan Center for Justice shows that murder has risen equally in cities run by Republicans and cities run by Democrats and that so-called 'red' states actually saw some of the highest murder rates of all. Republican voters, 73 percent, and Black voters, 81 percent, were particularly likely to vote based on the crime rate. was up 18 percent from the same period in 2020.Ĭoncerns over the spike in crime became a key voting issue in the November midterms and political candidates responded to those fears, campaigning on platforms of public safety and releasing ads focused on violent crime.Ī Pew Research Poll conducted in the weeks before the 2022 elections found that six-in-ten registered voters said violent crime is very important in their decisions about who to vote for. That trend continued into 2021 when early reporting from the New York Times showed that the murder rate in the U.S. saw a 28.64 percent increase between 20, according to data from the World Bank. In February, the New York Police Department ( NYPD) reported 169 cases of major crime on the nation's largest subway system.Ĭrime has been on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic. The incident is one of many that happen on New York City's subways every month. A death on the NYC subway has sparked a debate about crime and what should be done about it. Authorities had an active warrant for his arrest from a felony assault charge he allegedly committed in November 2021.Ī subway train waits to depart on June 16, 2021, in New York City. Multiple outlets reported that the 24-year-old former Marine was taken into custody but released without charges while the investigation remains open.įollowing the incident, police have said that the deceased man had a documented mental health history as well as a criminal history that includes more than 40 prior arrests. NYPD told Newsweek an autopsy has been slated to determine what the cause of death was. He was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

As the train pulled into the Broadway-Lafayette station, the 30-year-old man fell unconscious.

On Monday, a man, who has not yet been formally identified, was described as behaving erratically, threatening passengers on a Manhattan subway when a former Marine approached him and put him in a chokehold to restrain him. A fatal encounter on a New York City subway has sparked a tense debate about the rise in crime in America and what residents should do in response.

An Old Man by Eric M. Black