"Anatomy of a Homicide" Summary and Full Report

The prevention of violent crime is a top priority for the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. In order to prevent crime, we must first understand it. Developing strategies to become more data-driven in addressing crime is one of our agency’s strategic initiatives. In an effort to better understand the commonalities between the people, conditions, and circumstances contributing to the homicides in our community, Sheriff McNeil assembled a project team to complete an exploratory review of the homicides reported in Leon County between 2015-2020.

In collaboration with the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) Research Institute, the project team provided a detailed report of findings related to homicide victims and offenders, homicide locations, the days and months when homicides were most prevalent, weapons used, circumstances, and primary factors. In addition, the report contained a summary of evidence-based strategies to reduce violence, violence reduction strategies and programs utilized in other cities and states, ongoing LCSO efforts, and recommendations for moving forward to address this problem in our community.