Atlanta’s decrease in homicide cases — from 171 in 2022 to 135 in 2023 — mirrors the trend seen in cities across the Southeast and the country.
Following a widespread rise in homicides during the height of the pandemic, the country is expected to see the homicide rate drop nearly 13%, the largest single-year decline on record.
Some cities experienced historically significant declines. Detroit ended 2023 with the fewest homicides recorded since the 1960s. Baltimore had fewer than 300 homicides for the first time since 2015.
Other cities, including Atlanta, crept closer to pre-pandemic numbers.
Homicides declined by about 20% in Atlanta, Houston, Albuquerque, St. Louis and Milwaukee last year. Still, deadly violence in each of those cities remained higher than pre-pandemic years.
In the decade before the pandemic, authorities investigated an average of 90 homicides a year in Atlanta, the fewest in the city’s modern history. During the crack epidemic, by contrast, Atlanta saw more than 230 homicide cases in 1990, and nearly 250 in 1989. Authorities investigated 99 homicides in 2019 but 2020 proved to be the deadliest year in decades, as the number surged to 157.
Thaddeus Johnson, an assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology at Georgia State University, said he suspects cities that were quick to reopen after pandemic shutdowns were also quick to turn a corner on violent crime.
“When the pandemic hit, (APD) really buckled down on taking an intelligence-driven approach when it comes to policing,” Johnson said. “Atlanta was able to persevere and be one of the first places to bounce back economically after the pandemic. So the hangover was a lot shorter for Atlanta than many other places.”
Places still experiencing that hangover include Memphis, where homicides increased 27%, and Washington, DC, where they increased 36%.
Across Georgia
After 70 homicide cases in an unusually violent 2022, the number in Macon-Bibb County dropped to 42 last year.
“It’s an improvement, but you want to eliminate all violence, but you make progress as you can,” Bibb County Sheriff David Davis told the Macon Telegraph.
Like most cities, Macon experienced a dramatic rise in violent crime in 2020, when the number of homicide cases doubled.
Bibb County Commissioners allocated more than $800,000 to violence prevention programs last year, approving an additional $1 million to be distributed early this year.
Athens-Clarke County ended 2023 with eight homicides. The county was on track to have fewer homicides than the six it had in 2022 until three people died in a case ruled a murder-suicide on Dec. 1.
Columbus saw 58 homicide cases in 2023, a dozen less than in 2022.
Rome saw seven homicide cases in 2023, two more than in 2022. Victims included Cassie Davis, who was sitting in her car at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru when a man approached her car and shot her three times through the passenger-side window before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
Savannah had 28 homicides last year, four fewer than 2022. Though the city had fewer violent deaths, gun violence has been on the rise in the past few years.
“We have guns everywhere,” Savannah Mayor Van Johnson told WJCL last June. “The state of Georgia has decided that guns should be everywhere, so we can’t be surprised when guns show up everywhere.”
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