Jackson County Prosecutor Fact Checks Black Female Homicide Trends

A few things . . . 

I'm not completely convinced that the prosecutor's blog isn't some kind of scheme to entrap silly people saying/typing stupid things. So the project doesn't have the confidence of TKC. 

More importantly . . . 

THE JACKSON COUNTY BLOG TECH IS HORRIBLY OUT OF DATE!!!

There is no valid RSS feed . . . The posts are signed by both courthouse PR dude Michael Mansur ALONG WITH the prosecutor . . . And it's not a traditional blog . . . It's better than a press release but more of a detailed way to document an idea beyond what social media provides . . . So maybe it is a blog after all . . . I'm willing to concede that last point.

Suggestions for improvement . . . An ambitious idea . . . Integrate Wordpress or Squarespace or Wix into the prosecutor's site in a subdomain. Or . . . Just create a cheap, easy & free account via blogspot just like the KCPD Chief has for more than a decade. It conveniently connects with other social media accounts and is very simple to manage, link and pass along.

Now, much more importantly . . .

LIKE IT OR NOT THE DATA FROM THE PROSECUTOR IS TOP NOTCH!!!

There is some really great info that corrects the social media rumor mill and provides a really reassuring glimpse at the courthouse studying the homicide crisis in great detail . . . Here's the passage that we're clipping . . .

"I asked crime analysts in my office to delve into the data on Black female homicides when The Wall Street Journal reported a dramatic increase in Black female homicides in U.S. cities came across my desk. Do we have a growing problem here with regard to Black female homicides? The Wall Street Journal report in late-December 2022 was shocking. In 21 U.S. cities, the newspaper reported, unsolved homicides of Black females had increased 89 percent, comparing 2018-2019 data to 2020-2021. All homicides of Black females, the report continued, had increased 51 percent, comparing 2019 data to 2021.

"Analysts in my office’s Crime Strategies Unit examined Kansas City data that tracks every homicide and non-fatal shooting in Kansas City. Most of that violence is concentrated in portions of Kansas City that are in Jackson County. Kansas City, overall, has long struggled to reduce the city’s violence levels. Homicides at the end of 2014 were at a 50-year low, but by 2020 they climbed high to 179, an all-time high for our city.

"The KCPD shooting review data showed 15 black female homicide victims in 2019 in Kansas City, Jackson County and 17 in 2021, an increase of 13.3% -- compared to the 51% increase reported by the Wall Street Journal. Even a slight increase is disappointing, but something less than the reported 51 percent increase was positive news. Our data also revealed a 4.9% overall increase in homicide victims in Kansas City, Jackson County from 2019 (144) to 2021 (151), far less than the 34% increase reported by WSJ during that same period.

"We also found mixed results related to the clearance rates for black female homicides. Recall that the number of unsolved homicides of Black females rose, according to WSJ’s report, by 89 % in 2020-21, compared to 2018-19. Our analysts found an 18.2% decline in Black female homicides that remained unsolved during the same period. This data is calming given the trends reported by WSJ."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Jackson County Prosecutor's Blog: "National alarms about increased violence to Black females may be exaggerated, but should still be a grave concern."