Murder toll falls 23 per cent as Jamaica marks two straight weeks below ten killings

For the second week running, Jamaica has logged fewer than ten murders, with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) reporting six homicides across the island from June 21 to June 27.

That count comes on the heels of eight killings recorded between June 14 and June 20, forming one of the longest runs of low weekly murder figures seen so far in 2026.

By June 27, the national murder tally had reached 265 — 23 per cent below the 342 homicides registered over the same stretch of last year.

The easing pattern is not limited to murder. Fresh JCF data also point to drops in shootings, injuries from violence, rape, robbery and break-ins, pushing total serious crime down 20 per cent when measured against the comparable period in 2025.

Even with the islandwide improvement, the St James Police Division still leads all divisions in homicides, with 35 murders since January — up 25 per cent from the same point a year ago.

St Andrew South ranks second with 22 killings, though that division has posted a 51 per cent fall compared with last year.

St Andrew Central accounts for 21 murders, a 17 per cent rise, while Clarendon has seen 20 homicides, down five per cent.

Kingston Eastern completes the top five divisions by murder count, with 19 homicides representing a 73 per cent jump over the corresponding period in 2025.

The new numbers underline a wider downward shift in violent offending this year, even as law-enforcement teams press targeted operations against criminal networks in multiple divisions.