An analysis of police data shows that violent crime in St. Louis has become deadlier in the past decade or so and the use of guns is on the rise.
The study by University of Missouri-St. Louis criminology professor Janet Lauritsen and criminology doctoral candidate Theodore Lentz found that 94% of homicides in St. Louis involved a gun from 2015 to 2016, an increase from 78% of homicides in 2004. Guns also were involved in over 60% of assaults and robberies in that period, compared with 43% in 2004.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the study shows the amount of homicides per robbery or assault has spiked in the past eight years from 23 per 1,000 incidents to 36.
