Top Story

Hate crimes jumped almost 12 percent in 2021, despite earlier indications they had dropped, and initial FBI figures indicate another rise in 2022. The FBI announced in December that hate crimes had fallen in 2021, but that was before thousands of police agencies, including from major cities like New York, had submitted data. The agency acknowledged that the updated data is still incomplete. [The Wall Street Journal]

From Our Team

When gun homicide rates rose dramatically during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, research into the spike focused mainly on adults or the general public. Now, The Trace’s Fairriona Magee reports, a study from Boston University shows gun injury rates also skyrocketed among children — and some kids were much more likely to be shot than others.

“These stats are astonishing, but not surprising,” said Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric trauma surgeon at Northwell Health in New York. “Last year, we saw a 350 percent increase at our children’s hospital of kids coming in with bullet wounds. The majority of those children are Black children.”

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What to Know Today

ICYMI: President Joe Biden debuted a wide-ranging executive order targeting gun violence during a trip to Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday. Chip Brownlee explains what the directive changes — and what it doesn’t. [The Trace]

San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins’s plan to dismiss charges against the police officer who fatally shot Keita O’Neil — apparently the first time in city history that a cop faced criminal charges for an on-duty killing — wasn’t a surprise. But advocates and victims’ families are left wondering what it will take to hold law enforcement accountable. [BuzzFeed News/The San Francisco Standard]

Will red flag laws fall victim to Bruen? A recent 5th Circuit ruling that struck down the federal domestic violence gun ban opens the door for challenges to laws allowing firearms to be temporarily removed from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. [Duke Center for Firearms Law]

Dozens of New Jersey social justice groups asked the Justice Department to investigate the Paterson Police Department over the death of violence intervention worker Najee Seabrooks, whom officers shot and killed in his home during an apparent mental health crisis. [Gothamist/NJ Spotlight News]

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, once considered a long shot in the race for Chicago mayor, is betting that a “treatment not trauma” approach to public safety will net him the city’s top job. [The New Yorker]

Fallout from the investigation into a D.C. violent crime squad continues: Prosecutors dismissed 65 gun possession cases over concerns that officers in the unit may have lied on related reports. [The Washington Post]

Philadelphia voters largely agree that gun violence is among the top issues facing the city, but a new poll shows a stark generational divide on how to solve it. [Billy Penn]

An Alabama school district is piloting a new safety system: wall-size, bulletproof white boards meant to protect students from active shooters and act as storm shelters. [The Alabama Education Lab]

Archive

Young People Fear Gun Violence, But Also Think Guns May Keep Them Safe”: A 2022 survey explores Gen Z’s perception of gun violence and its effect on their daily lives. (September 28, 2022)

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