LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new report released by the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods estimates the financial impact of shootings, both fatal and non-fatal, in Louisville.
The report, conducted by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, estimates each homicide could cost taxpayers close to $1 million.
"We could be spending those dollars in a much more productive way, without the high level of gun violence in our community," Metro Council President David James said. "So it really brings home the fact that there's no such thing as 'your side of the canoe is leaking.' We're all on this boat together."
The report breaks down the cost of violence into six areas: crime scene response, hospital and rehabilitation, criminal justice, incarceration, victim support and lost tax revenue. It says a homicide costs taxpayers just over $900,000, while an injury shooting costs more than $500,000.
"The dollar amounts are staggering, and it's something we need to focus on when we think about how we make public expenditures," Councilman Bill Hollander, D-District 9, said. "We can do things on the front end to avoid these kind of expenses or we can pay on the back end."
The city of Louisville saw 173 people killed last year. The report claims that cost city taxpayers at least $155.7 million. The estimate accounts for both victim expenses and the cost to prosecute and incarcerate a suspect in a homicide or shooting.
It's important to note that most of Louisville's homicides are unsolved, so the amount of taxpayer dollars actually spent is significantly lower than what the report suggests.
The full report can be read by clicking here.
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