South Florida Local News

By CLAUDIA LAUER

Data collected from 35 American cities showed a 21% decrease in the homicide rate from 2024 to 2025, translating to about 922 fewer homicides last year, according to a new report from the independent Council on Criminal Justice.

The report, released on Thursday, tracked 13 crimes and recorded drops last year in 11 of those categories including carjackings, shoplifting, aggravated assaults and others. Drug crimes saw a small increase over last year and sexual assaults stayed even between 2024 and 2025, the study found.

Experts said cities and states beyond those surveyed showed similar declines in homicides and other crimes. But they said it’s too early to tell what is prompting the change even as elected officials at all levels — both Democrats and Republicans — have been claiming credit.

Adam Gelb, president and CEO of the council — a nonpartisan think tank for criminal justice policy and research — said that after historic increases in violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year brought historic decreases. The study found some cities recorded decades-low numbers, with the overall homicide rate dropping to its lowest in decades

“It’s a dramatic drop to an absolutely astonishing level. As we celebrate it we also need to unpack and try to understand it,” Gelb said. “There’s never one reason crime goes up or down.”

The council collects data from police departments and other law enforcement sources. Some of the report categories included data from as many as 35 cities, while others because of differences in definitions for specific crimes or tracking gaps, include fewer cities in their totals. Many of the property crimes in the report also declined, including a 27% drop in vehicle thefts and 10% drop in shoplifting among the reporting cities.

The council’s report showed a decrease in the homicide rate in 31 of 35 cities including a 40% decrease or more in Denver, Omaha, Nebraska, and Washington. The only city included that reported a double-digit increase was Little Rock, Arkansas, where the rate increased by 16% from 2024.

Gelb said the broad crime rate decreases have made some criminologists question historic understandings of what drives trends in violent crime and how to battle it.

“We want to believe that local factors really matter for crime numbers, that it is fundamentally a neighborhood problem with neighborhood level solutions,” he said. “We’re now seeing that broad, very broad social, cultural and economic forces at the national level can assert huge influence on what happens at the local level.”

Republicans, many of whom called the decrease in violent crime in many cities in 2024 unreliable, have rushed to say that tough-on-crime stances like deploying the National Guard to cities like New Orleans and the nation’s capital, coupled with immigration operation surges, have all played a roll in this year’s drops.

However, cities that saw no surges of either troops or federal agents saw similar historic drops in violent and other crimes, according to the Council’s annual report.

Democratic mayors are also touting their policies as playing roles in the 2025 decreases.

Jens Ludwig, a public policy professor and the Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, stressed that many factors can contribute to a reduction in crime, whether that’s increased spending on law enforcement or increased spending on education to improve graduation rates.

“The fact that in any individual city, we are seeing crime drop across so many neighborhoods and in so many categories, means it can’t be any particular pet project in a neighborhood enacted by a mayor,” Ludwig said. And because the decrease is happening in multiple cities, “it’s not like any individual mayor is a genius in figuring this out.”

He said while often nobody knows what drives big swings in crime numbers, the decrease could be in part due to the continued normalization after big spikes in crime for several years during the pandemic. A hypothesis that stresses the declines might not last.

“If you look at violent crime rates in the U.S., it is much more volatile year to year than the poverty rate, or the unemployment rate; It is one of those big social indicators that just swings around a lot year to year,” Ludwig said. “Regardless of credit for these declines, I think it’s too soon for anybody on either side of this to declare mission accomplished.”

Q: I purchased a house with my girlfriend, but because she had better credit, we put it in just her name. Besides splitting the down payment, I’ve been helping pay all the bills, including the mortgage, and I even paid to have the roof repaired. Now, she’s saying it’s her house, and I have no say in it. Is there anything I can do? — Michael

A: Buying a house together can be an exciting milestone, but when the legal ownership is in one person’s name, the situation can become complicated if the relationship takes a turn.

Although you’ve contributed to the mortgage, bills, and repairs, the law prioritizes whose name is on the deed when determining ownership. Still, you do have rights in this situation.

The first step is to gather all your documentation. Make a record of every payment you made, especially those for the mortgage, utilities, and repairs. Receipts, bank statements, and any written agreements and communications, such as texts and emails, that show the expectation that the home was for both of you are very helpful.

Of course, you should speak with your girlfriend and try to work something out. If you and your girlfriend are open to discussing the matter but are having difficulty working through it, consider mediation. A neutral third party can help you both reach an agreement without a lengthy court battle.

However, if she’s unwilling to negotiate, legal action may be your only option.

Courts may recognize your financial contributions under the legal concepts of “constructive trust” or “equitable interest.” This means that even if your name is not on the deed, you may be able to claim a share of the property based on your significant financial contributions.

Even if the court doesn’t award you a share of the property, it might order her to reimburse you for those contributions.

Finally, moving forward, it is important to protect yourself in similar situations. If you find yourself contributing to a property again, make sure your name is on the deed or that you have a written agreement outlining your rights.

While it’s easy to assume that love and trust will carry the day, having legal protections in place can save you a lot of heartache down the road. There’s no reason loving, caring partners cannot have written agreements to help avoid misunderstandings.

Board-certified real estate lawyer Gary Singer writes about industry legal matters and the housing market. To ask him a question, email him at gary@garysingerlaw.com, or go to SunSentinel.com/askpro. 

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Once a month, my grandmother hosts a group of friends at her house for a chat and an afternoon tea.

She loves the company and the catch-up, as they are all older and can’t get out much, especially since COVID.

I noticed one guest is very snippety and degrading to the rest of the group, but my grandmother says it isn’t her place to say anything.

I noticed the group declining in numbers and coming up with reasons not to come. My grandmother is angry at her friends for not coming over. I gently hint that if someone is being rude, and the hostess does not ask them to be more mindful, then yes, people will stop coming.

However, she tells me I am wrong and that a hostess doesn’t tell anyone to, in my generation’s words, “stay in their lane.”

How can I get my grandmother to understand this before she loses the friends altogether?

• Asking Eric: I told them they were ruining the concert for me. They said it was their ‘right’
• Miss Manners: I want to shut down rude whispers about my husband’s criminal past
• Asking Eric: There’s trouble next door, and I can’t tell my 5-year-old what’s going on
• Miss Manners: What should I say to a woman who has defaced herself with a tattoo?
• Asking Eric: Hosting ungrateful relatives ruined my holiday, and I’m still angry

GENTLE READER: Forgive this grandmother for not understanding what you are asking yours to do.

Miss Manners hopes it is not to commit the unpardonable rudeness of calling out a guest’s rudeness to her face. (The guest’s face, that is. Once the guest is gone, you are free to try to convince your grandmother that this guest is scaring away her other friends.)

You might be more successful if you say that that person is not to everyone’s taste, and perhaps Grandmama can socialize with her one-on-one and convene a more like-minded group for afternoon teas.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Elevators have been in existence, I believe, for more than 150 years, but there does not seem to be a system of accepted manners related to them.

• Miss Manners: I want to shut down rude whispers about my husband’s criminal past
• Miss Manners: What should I say to a woman who has defaced herself with a tattoo?
• Miss Manners: People should know that it’s now impolite to say ‘you’re welcome’
• Miss Manners: They saved me from a killer tomato. What’s the appropriate response?
• Miss Manners: Was my reaction childish after this shopper’s nasty comment?

It is true that we no longer dance around in the elevator so as to allow all the women to get out before the men. There is, however, pandemonium on first floors, when people wishing to board will not wait for occupants to get off. The expressions on their faces indicate they are astonished to find that the machine contains passengers!

I am going to give you my solution and petition you for approval of my actions, which I believe will correct the problem over time.

I am a 6-foot man, and when I stick out my elbows, I pretty much fill the space between the doors. When the doors open, if I note any inclination for those outside to crowd in, I spread my arms and say in a loud voice, “It is not polite to crowd in when people are coming out.”

Do I have your approval for this behavior, and do you think it will prove to be effective?

GENTLE READER: You do not — firstly, because you are going to elbow some unsuspecting person in the face, and secondly, because it is rude to correct another’s manners.

Both problems can be avoided if you instead say, “Excuse us, people coming out, please.” If the announcement is made in a booming voice, it will be surprising enough to render the physical barrier of sticking out your arms unnecessary.

Even so, Miss Manners does not see this solving the problem everywhere and for all time, unless you plan to spend an awful lot of time in elevators.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@missmanners.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.