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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
A recently released federal violent crime study shows that incidents of rape are on the rise in Nashville, despite a drop in other categories.
The survey was conducted by the Major Cities Chiefs Association, a group of police executives who track criminal activity across the U.S.
According to the survey, crime in Music City has gone down for the most part in the first part of the year. A decrease was noted in aggravated assault, robbery, and homicide.
Reported incidents of rape, however, increased with 325 cases reported from January 1 to June 30. The same time period in 2023 saw 267 cases reported.
Dr. Michael Joyner spoke with News 2 on behalf of a group of ministers who are working together to help find a way to curb crime across the city by specifically focusing on young people.
“Not to reinvent a new wheel, but work together with some of the organizations that are already functioning to do preventive crime, so we’re in the process of looking at second chance, even Second Chance programs, through juvenile court, amen, trying to get our hands on some of our young people,” Joyner said.
According to Rachel Freeman, CEO of the Sexual Assault Center in Nashville, the stigma surrounding sexual assault victims has decreased, leading more people to be open to coming forward to report the crime.
“We’ve seen a continued increase in the numbers of people we serve in the safe clinic who want to report their rape to law enforcement, and that’s a good, good step. That’s good progress,” Freeman said.
The entirety of the survey results can be found here.
