2020: A Bad Year

I’m just playing with charts and data presentation. If I graphed the number of people shot in NYC and the percent change on the previous year, it’s a challenge when a number that is between -20 and +7 suddenly goes to 100best I can come up with is something like this.

Without 2020 it’s much easier to do.

Though without knowing about 2020, I’d probably use a more traditional format and not even include percentage change. (Plus I could go back one more year, to as far back as I this data.)

Add 2020 to the simple chart and you get this. But I think it’s important to show just how absolutely absurd the percentage increase in shootings was last year. The last time there was even a 10% increase in shootings was probably 1990. My NYC shooting data only goes back to 2001. Though I read somewhere reliable that 5,866 people were shot in 1993.

5 thoughts on “2020: A Bad Year

  1. What, if anything, do we know about the context of these shootings? How much of the increase could be chalked up to domestic violence stemming from the lockdown?

    1. We know very little, but based on what I’ve heard in NYC, the vast majority of the increase is not domestic related.

  2. With the title ” A Bad Year” I believed it was in relation to COVID 19. As a Texas resident I was not aware of such an increase of shootings in NYC. Shouldn’t there have been less shooting because citizens shouldn’t be out as much? Is there examples of such charts for Texas? Thank you.

  3. Thank you for sharing. The following information was very interesting to me because, although I thought 2020 had various shooting in NYC because of political views and controversy now, seeing the statistics on a chart gives the information a new perspective. 2020 was a difficult year for our nation as a whole and now, I strongly believe there were many factors that played a role in the following data findings. Those being, Trump in presidency, Boycotts, COVID-19, and the factor that takes the cake would be racial injustices against people of color.

  4. You would think there would be less shooting in NYC with the pandemic going on and everyone being on lockdown. However, I believe that this played a role into the increase as many people became frustrated and were on edge with the situation. When people are forced to be placed in confinement, it can cause things like anxiety and anger as well as boredom. These emotions then build up and may cause people to do things on impulse.

Comments are closed.