Four major US cities are seeing a surge in homicides — but not for the reasons you might think

Four major US cities are experiencing a surge in homicide rates and have neared or exceeded the numbers from the 1990s, according to a study from The Wall Street Journal.

The publication looked at homicide data stretching back to 1985 and found that murder rates in Chicago, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Memphis now look like numbers from the 1990s: an era wrought with gang violence and drug-trafficking.

The current spikes, however, were attributed in part to other factors — like poverty and unemployment, and diminishing police-community relations.

Here are a few facts from The Journal's analysis (emphasis ours):

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