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Here are Connecticut's 2022 criminal justice system trends

Crime is a concern for many midterm voters across the country.
Jack Berman/Getty Images
Crime is a concern for many midterm voters across the country.

In Connecticut, violent crime declined between 2020 and 2021 according to statistics released on Thursday by the state’s Office of Policy and Management.

The reduction in overall crime, and violent crime in particular, continues a downward trend that began prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Marc Pelka, an undersecretary at OPM.

“It seems that the pandemic onset accelerated trends that were already in motion in the state. It did not involve any sort of sharp upward or downward turning in the opposite direction,” Pelka said, at a presentation of the report to the state’s Criminal Justice Advisory Committee.

“Violent crime has fallen by 43% in the last decade. And 27% in the last five years and even 9% from 2020 to 2021. That leaves Connecticut’s violent crime rate at nearly half of the U.S. rate. Very positive news there,” Pelka said.

However, cities such as Hartford and New Haven saw an uptick in violent crimes.

Murders increased from 147 in 2020 to 150 in 2021. That’s due to an uptick in reported homicides in Hartford from 25 in 2020 to 34 in 2021. And in New Haven from 21 in 2020, to 25 in 2021, according to the report.

Homicides declined in the state’s other large cities of Bridgeport, Waterbury, and Stamford.

Copyright 2022 WSHU. To see more, visit WSHU.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year. In addition to providing long-form reports and features for WSHU, he regularly contributes spot news to NPR, and has worked at the NPR National News Desk as part of NPR’s diversity initiative.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.