PHX Reporter

As crime rates surge nationally and in Arizona, members of minority communities have been the most severely impacted, according to crime statistics.

Residents of indigenous communities in Arizona are 10 times more likely to be victims of violent crime, News 12 reported.

In Arizona, there were 485 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents in 2020, The Center Square reported. This number represents the third highest violent crime rate in the west and ninth highest nationwide. During 2020, the violent crime rate in the state climbed by 6.5% compared to 2019, slightly more than the national increase of 5%.

In a recent New York Post opinion piece, columnist Michael Goodwin acknowledges that an increase in crime is most pronounced for nonwhite groups, and the same is true when we see a decline in crime. He also points out that "the people the progressives claimed to be helping" actually were harmed by anti-police policies.

"The nation’s large cities are so swamped by horrific crime and violence that police, criminologists and a few honest elected Democrats are finally conceding the obvious: The progressive movement, including Black Lives Matter, that ostensibly aimed to protect minority racial groups by defunding the police and coddling criminals backfired big time," Goodwin wrote.

Nationally, in 2020, a disproportionate amount of black individuals were murdered compared to white individuals, Fox News reported. In 2020, the FBI reported 9,941 murders of black Americans, a near 33% increase in just one year. Between 2010 and 2019, black murders shot up by 43%.

The FBI data shows there were 7,043 white people murdered in 2020.

In April, Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donald told Fox News Digital that the Black Lives Matter and defund the police movements contributed to 2020's crime spike and had nothing to do with the coronavirus and lockdowns. The spike "began months after lockdowns beginning only after riots," noting the "spike was not at all related to COVID."

In light of midterm elections coming up, a Vox article predicts local and statewide races are where crime will be a defining factor for many Democrat candidates, since that's where policies are enacted and Democrats are typically known to be looser on crime. The article also points out that in 2021, violent crime, including assaults and murders, was up from years past. In 27 U.S. cities, homicides rose 44% from 2019 and 5% from 2020.