America’s miraculous murder decline

Today, Explained

Vox

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the last two years, crime rates have been plunging in cities across America. In Baltimore, gun crime is at the lowest it’s been in decades. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Jolie Myers, fact checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast. Young men at ROCA, a Baltimore non-profit serving youth at risk of gun violence. Photo by Miles Bryan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Knock knock.
0:01.0	Who's there?
0:02.0	It's Miles Bryan, senior producer and reporter for this program.
0:06.5	And Sean, I'm here with a good news story.
0:10.4	Good news.
0:11.4	Do today explain listeners like good news?
0:14.2	Let's find out together.
0:15.2	What is it, Miles?
0:16.2	Well, the story is summed up in one statistic that I just find astonishing.
0:29.7	The United States homicide rate is falling faster now than it ever has in the history of our data on this, which goes back to the early 1960s.
0:36.3	And this year, Sean, 2025, is on track to have what could be the lowest homicide rate ever recorded.
0:43.0	Hmm, amazing, because I'm old enough to remember the great COVID-19 pandemic and the spike in crime that came thereafter. Me too. We covered it on this show. But quietly, the whole country
0:49.0	has been going through a sort of miraculous recovery in the last couple of years. And I think the
0:53.3	story of Baltimore helps explain
0:55.4	how that happened. Take us to Charm City, Miles. See you there. Support for this show comes from
1:03.1	OnePassword. If you're an IT or security pro, managing devices, identities, and applications can feel
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1:21.1	Take the first step to better security for your team.
1:24.4	Learn more at OnePassword.com slash podcast offer. That's OnePassword.com slash podcast offer,
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1:37.6	Support for this program comes from FM. Established nearly two centuries ago, FM is a leading mutual insurance company whose capital,
	...

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