Everything We Know About YSL’s RICO Case
For two decades, no matter who's been in charge, Jacksonville's sheriff has been embattled with trying to overcome the city's reputation as "the murder capital of Florida." They've stood at podiums in front of TV cameras addressing the violence year after year — 162 homicides, 177, 129, 168 and 157, and that's just in the last five years, according to unofficial Times-Union data.Well, this year's different. At the halfway mark of 2024, the city is unofficially at 46 homicides — a 31% decrease from the 67 at the same time last year. So Jacksonville is on pace to have fewer than 100 homicides for only the third time in the 21 years since the Times-Union has chronicled the city's death toll.
In a 30-minute interview a few days prior to the midway point, Sheriff T.K. Waters asked his own question: “Why is the media so bent on ruining the reputation of Jacksonville by calling Jacksonville the most violent city or the murder capital of Florida? Because it’s not," he said citing other areas. "… Jacksonville is a really great place and a really great city. The perception that’s being presented is problematic ... it’s almost a celebration when we reach 100 homicides. It’s crazy to me.”He also noted in the mid- to late-'80s the city had homicide rates of 200-plus with a population that was much lower and now don’t even get close to that.In the early 2000s, the Times-Union regularly chronicled how Duval County led the state per-capita murder rate for 10 years running. Hence the city was dubbed "the murder capital of Florida" and media and community leaders piled on.
Paul Kersey recent review of Milwaukee Violent Crime could apply to Jacksonville.
