In 2006, Jackson had a total of 40 homicides.

That’s half of where we are today in 2021 on July 12.

The totals between 2003 and 2016 hover between 37 and 63. In 2014, it hit 68, causing concern to many because it was the highest number since the mid-1990s, when the city had 92 homicides two years in a row and the gang violence was at its early peak.

In 2015, it was down to 58, but then 2016 brought 68 once more, according to records obtained from Jackson Police Department through the years.

When 2018 brought 84 homicides, it was staggering. That’s a 23% jump, experts pointed out.

The year 2020 blew past all the others, even the fabled 1990s, with a 56% jump to 129 homicides.

On the ground level, the city had argued reports that gang activity had been on the rise for several years. The police force was ailing behind falling morale, pressure from city leadership, and the feeling that city leaders weren’t going to back them in doing their job if deadly force was needed. While talking heads disputed that officers would hesitate to perform certain duties for fear of their lives as the numbers fell, rank and file were clear about their hesitations and fears in off the record discussions, especially in the light of several indictments of Jackson police officers involved in critical incidents who were indicted after being cleared of wrongdoing by internal affairs or the FBI or the Mississippi Bureau of the Investigation.

In 2021, there have been more than 80 homicides as of July 12. That’s more than the entirety of every year this century until 2018.

Here are the numbers, as gathered by Therese Apel from various public records requests to Jackson Police Department through the years.

This is a developing story.