Murders, violent crime spiked significantly in SC in 2020, new crime report shows
South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division is warning of a rise in violent crime across the state.
SLED released its official report on statewide crime statistics for 2020, and the final numbers confirm a disconcerting increase that law enforcement officials had warned about earlier in the year.
The report says violent crimes overall increased 6% from 2019 levels and 9.5% above the rate five years earlier, in 2015.
Murders increased 22.1% statewide, and aggravated assaults jumped 10.1%.
In total, 552 people in South Carolina were murdered last year, 100 more than the year before.
“We have seen murders increase 52.9% over the past five years,” SLED Chief Mark Keel said in announcing the report. “The final calculations for this report should concern every citizen in our state.”
Keel previewed the report earlier this year when he held a press conference with 30 sheriffs, police chiefs and solicitors to highlight the rise in violent crime, saying that police and communities they serve need to work better together to keep the problem from getting worse.
The news was not all bad. South Carolina continues to see a decline in property crimes, dropping 5.9% from last year and declining for the ninth year in a row. But investigators noted one exception is an increase in arson cases, with intentionally set fires jumping 22.7% in this year’s report.
“Gangs, drugs and criminals’ access to guns continue to play a significant role in the violence we are seeing,” Keel said.
Other figures in the report note declines in serious crimes. Robberies are down 4% from last year, and sexual battery is down 14%. Burglaries fell 16%, thefts were down 4% and motor vehicle thefts down 3%.
The numbers were compiled from reports at police and sheriff’s departments across the state. The full 2020 crime report is available on SLED’s website.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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