California's Post-Floyd Shift: Black Homicide Rates Rise, Then Fall
Five years after George Floyd's murder, California saw black homicide victims jump from 433 in 2018 to 690 in 2021 before dropping to 372 by 2025, while police justifiable killings of black people stayed flat.
California entered the George Floyd era with a historic low of 433 black homicide victims in 2018 and a decline in police-justified killings of black residents from 23 in 2015 to 14 in 2018. Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2020 racial-justice agenda intensified focus on police contacts, use of force, and sentencing, while the state’s homicide count for black Californians climbed to 690 by 2021, an increase of nearly 60 percent.
The surge occurred amid the pandemic and nationwide homicide rises, making it difficult to isolate policy effects. By 2025, black homicide victims fell to 372, a 46 percent drop, and the homicide clearance rate improved to 79.3%, suggesting better investigative outcomes. The analysis stresses that reforms aimed at limiting discriminatory policing must also ensure protection against violent crime, highlighting the interplay between police activity, clearance rates, and victimization trends.
Why it matters
It shows how reforms to reduce police bias can impact, and be impacted by, broader public-safety outcomes for black communities.
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