Last year was Birmingham’s most violent year since the early 1990s, and several sources have ranked the city one of the most unsafe in the country. Meanwhile, Birmingham suburbs like Vestavia Hills and Mountian Brook had considerably low crime rates in 2022, and Vestavia even ranked among the safest places to live in the United States.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is working with Republican lawmakers to bring a set of bills to the Alabama Legislature with the intention of curbing gang violence by increasing sentences for gang-related crimes.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and Birmingham Police Department chief Scott Thurmond both warned parents on Thursday to keep an eye on their children in the midst of the city’s violent crime wave, which made 2022 one of the most violent years in Birmingham history and has claimed the lives of 16 children in the last 15 months.
Alabama is known for its quaint and quiet towns, country roads and beautiful mountains, lakes and beaches. But beyond those peaceful scenes are violent, unthinkable acts happening before our eyes. Alabama lawmakers and law enforcement agencies are battling homegrown crime daily and in 2022, they were very busy.