Atlanta named one of America’s top ‘murder capitals’

The city of Atlanta was recently named one of America’s top 25 murder capitals, according to the latest data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.

With a murder rate of 20.2 per 100,000 civilians and 94 total murders in 2015, the metro city ranked no. 18 among 25 cities on a list based on FBI data, compiled by economic analysis site 24/7 Wall Street.

Compared to 2014, the number of homicide victims in Atlanta increased by 1.1 percent in 2015 and by 6.8 percent from half a decade ago.

Data shows that guns were involved in 82 percent of the homicide cases.

In June, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed assembled the Gun Violence Reduction Task Force or "Operation Whiplash" to "dramatically increase resources to respond and investigate gun related violent crime in our city."

The operation includes a 45-person patrol team assigned to the areas with high gun violence in the city.

Though Atlanta consistently ranks among the worst for total incidents of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, the city has an 80 percent murder clearance rate. Nationally, fewer than 62 percent of murder cases are solved.

While the number of homicides declined for several years after 2008 nationwide, the numbers have risen in recent years. In 2015, there were 15,696 murders across the country, up by 7.1% from 2011 and 10.8% from 2014.