A new report from an Alabama nonpartisan research organization provides more detail on Birmingham’s declining homicide rate as well as some potential reasons for the drop.

Birmingham leaders have for weeks touted the city’s homicide rate having decreased by more than half compared to the same time in 2024, a record-setting year for murders.

A report released Tuesday by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama verifies that drop and notes that total homicides in Jefferson County have been trending downward from a peak in 2021.

PARCA’s data analysis is part of the Birmingham-Jefferson County Justice Governance Partnership, a collaboration between Birmingham, Jefferson County, the Jefferson County Health Department, the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office and other community groups. The aim is to increase public safety through effective response and by improving underlying conditions that leave communities more vulnerable to crime.

“This is a long-term project. We and the other parties are committed and building it,” said Thomas Spencer, senior research associate at PARCA.

In addition to murders, robberies and auto theft were down in Birmingham compared to the first six months of 2024. However, aggravated assaults, theft and burglary were up.

“Taking the statistics together, Birmingham police have recorded more total criminal incidents in 2025 than for the same period in 2024,” the report states.

PARCA’s findings offer details about the geographic areas that are experiencing homicides. For example, the ZIP code with the most homicides over the past 10 years – 212 – was Bessemer’s 35022, which also spreads into McCalla, Helena, Hoover, Shannon and Birmingham. Another Bessemer ZIP code – 35020 – had 172 homicides during that same time. Portions of that ZIP code are in Lipscomb, Brighton, Midfield and Birmingham.

Violence Has Far-Reaching Effects in the Community

PARCA’s research also discussed the disproportionate impact homicide has in Black communities.

“Blacks make up less than half of Jefferson County’s population, but, in 2024, 88% percent of Jefferson County’s homicide victims were Black, with 172 deaths,” the report states.

Spencer said one aspect that he didn’t fully appreciate until the group started researching homicides in the county is the lasting impact violent incidents have on victims and their families.

“There tends to be a boomerang effect or a negative feedback loop of trauma in these neighborhoods where the violence has been concentrated and the problem perpetuates itself,” he said.

Programs Target Violence

While PARCA makes clear there is no single definitive answer to why the homicide rate has dropped, the group’s report mentions several initiatives and partnerships Birmingham leaders have implemented in the past two years.

“One with a direct connection to violence is a hospital-linked violence intervention program supported by the Jefferson County Health Department and the City of Birmingham, Violence Intervention and Prevention Partners (VIP2),” the report states. “In recent years, public health officials have noted that violence often behaves like a contagious disease. That insight has led to the deployment of public health strategies designed to reduce violence.”

PARCA also highlighted the Birmingham police’s Special Enforcement Division, which  focuses on high-crime areas and networks of individuals involved in violent crimes. The report also lists the police department’s focus on increasing clearance rates for homicide cases. By mid-year, the report states, arrests had been made in 30 of 37 homicides from 2025.

Spencer said one key message from the research is that governments and other stakeholders will often collaborate when murder rates surge, but once the rates decline, those groups often return to fragmented and siloed responses to violence.

“To the extent we can encourage and maintain cooperation across agencies and across governments and address the root causes and underlying conditions, hopefully we can avoid future problems,” Spencer said.