Editing Compton, California (section)

===Crime===
Following the [[Watts riots]] in 1965, crime in Compton rose sharply. Although the city was largely exempt from the destruction of the 1965 riot, it prompted middle-class residents to flee over the next few years. By 1969, it had the highest crime rate in the state of California.<ref name=Straight/>

In ''Black, Brown, and White: Stories Straight Outta Compton'', [[Lynne Isbell]] and two friends from other ethnic backgrounds have written about their lives growing up in Compton during the 1960s and early 1970s. They tell how Compton changed from a mostly white town to a mostly black one and became known as "the Murder Capital of the United States".<ref name="Blackwell's">[https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Black-Brown-and-White-Stories-Straight-Outta-Compton-by-Isbell-Lynne-A/9798985154009 "Black, Brown, and White: Stories Straight Outta Compton"], [[Blackwell's]], December 15, 2021. Accessed August 15, 2022.</ref>

Compton's violent reputation reached the national spotlight in the late 1980s with the rise of local [[gangsta rap]] groups [[Compton's Most Wanted]] and [[N.W.A]], the latter of whom released the album ''[[Straight Outta Compton]]'' in 1989. The city became notorious for [[gang violence]], primarily caused by the [[Bloods]] and [[Crips]].<ref name=Straight>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0815-compton-image-20150815-story.html |title='Straight Outta' a different Compton: City says much has changed in 25 years |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 14, 2015 |first1=Angel |last1=Jennings |last2=Esquivel |first2=Paloma |access-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-date=May 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514224713/https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0815-compton-image-20150815-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> After years of decline in crime, Compton's murder rate skyrocketed in 2004 with racial conflicts between Blacks and Latinos.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4804296 |title=A Deadly Year for the City of Compton |last=del Barco |first=Mandalit |date=August 17, 2005 |website=NPR News |language=en |access-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031014101/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4804296 |url-status=live}}</ref>

2005 was the city's deadliest year on record when the city murder rate reached 72 killings with a total population of 90,000 residents. The spike was the highest since 1991, when the city had more than 100,000 residents.<ref name="rate">{{cite web |url=https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/us/ca/compton/murder-homicide-rate-statistics |title=Compton CA Murder/Homicide Rate 1999-2018 |website=Macrotrends.net |access-date=August 1, 2023}}</ref> The rise in homicides frightened residents who had long lived with high levels of gang violence but had seen a downturn in violent crime in recent years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jan-02-me-compton2-story.html |title=Compton Killings Highest in Years |last=GARVEY |first=MEGAN |date=January 2, 2006 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |access-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-date=October 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031014055/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jan-02-me-compton2-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2013, the homicide rate was 36.8 per 100,000 residents, a decrease from the mid-2000s peak.<ref name="rate" /> Guns are used in the vast majority of homicides in Compton. Between 2000 and 2016, 91.5% were killed with guns compared to the national average of 67.7%.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homicide.latimes.com/neighborhood/compton/year/all |title=The Homicide Report |website=Homicide.latimes.com |access-date=November 11, 2017 |archive-date=October 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005113520/http://homicide.latimes.com/neighborhood/compton/year/all |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015, there was a record low of 15 homicides while the homicide rate in the rest of the US increased.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homicide.latimes.com/neighborhood/compton/year/2015 |title=The Homicide Report |website=Homicide.latimes.com |access-date=November 11, 2017 |archive-date=October 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005105306/http://homicide.latimes.com/neighborhood/compton/year/2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> In recent years, homicides have increased while remaining well below the 1980s and 90s, with 32 in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Homicide Report |url=https://homicide.latimes.com/neighborhood/compton/officer_involved/false/year/2021 |access-date=January 7, 2022 |archive-date=January 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107062649/https://homicide.latimes.com/neighborhood/compton/officer_involved/false/year/2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The neighborhood lost residents with the worsening safety problems and, after the [[1992_Los_Angeles_riots|1992 riots]] in the [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles metropolitan area]], many African Americans left the city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comptoncity.org/index.php/About-Compton/demographic-information.htm |title=Demographic Information |publisher=Comptoncity.org |date=December 3, 1991 |access-date=August 30, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710154937/http://www.comptoncity.org/index.php/About-Compton/demographic-information.htm |archive-date=July 10, 2010 }}</ref>

Although ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]'' did not list Compton in the 2011 "11 Most Dangerous Cities" for overall crime rates in the United States,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/02/16/the-11-most-dangerous-cities |title=The 11 Most Dangerous Cities |first=Danielle |last=Kurtzleben |work=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=June 14, 2015 |archive-date=June 17, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617110519/http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/02/16/the-11-most-dangerous-cities |url-status=live}}</ref> the ''CQ Press'', using data from the [[Crime in the United States|FBI's annual report of crime statistics]] "Crime in the United States 2010," which ranked Compton as having the eighth highest crime rate in the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2010/City_crime_rate_2010-2011_hightolow.pdf |title=AMSAFC2.WK4 |access-date=July 31, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412010233/http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2010/City_crime_rate_2010-2011_hightolow.pdf |archive-date=April 12, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Compton experienced a drop in homicide in the late 1990s and 2000s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/193812.pdf |title=Homicide in Los Angeles: An Analysis of the Differential Character of Adolescent and Other Homicides |website=Ncjrs.gov |access-date=November 11, 2017 |archive-date=December 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161210112643/https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/193812.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Crime has stabilized overall since the 2010s.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://s3.amazonaws.com/nixle/uploads/pub_media/user21087-1323214707-media1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=October 28, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160123080201/http://s3.amazonaws.com/nixle/uploads/pub_media/user21087-1323214707-media1 |archive-date=January 23, 2016 }}</ref> The decrease in homicides has been attributed to various factors, including changing demographics, faster response times by police (reducing shots fired) and better medical care (increasing survival rates). [[Aja Brown]], mayor elected in 2013, helped to settle turf wars between the gangs, which has further reduced the homicide rate.<ref name="latimes.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-compton-selected-to-receive-federal-aid-20150928-story.html |title=Compton selected to receive federal aid to reduce violent crime |first=Angel |last=Jennings |date=September 28, 2015 |via=LA Times |access-date=April 16, 2020 |archive-date=January 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113082803/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-compton-selected-to-receive-federal-aid-20150928-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Mexican and Central American immigrants have increasingly replaced African Americans who moved to safer cities.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/15/compton-latinos-black-political-power/#:~:text=But%20as%20the%20city's%20crime,a%20bachelor's%20degree%20or%20higher.|title=In Black-led Compton, a Latino majority fights for political power|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|author-last1=Foster-Frau|author-first1=Sylvia}}</ref>
===="Gifts for Guns"====
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department began the annual "Gifts for Guns" program within that same year{{When|date=January 2025}} where the citizens of Compton were given the option to turn in firearms and receive a $50–$100 check for various goods in an effort to combat [[gun violence]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-09-me-gifts-for-guns9-story.html |title=Residents turn in guns in Compton |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 9, 2008 |access-date=August 12, 2010 |first=Kate |last=Linthicum |archive-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924043847/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/09/local/me-gifts-for-guns9 |url-status=live}}</ref> People have turned in about 7,000 guns over the last few years, [[KABC-TV]] reported. The program's success has prompted the [[Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department|LASD]] to expand the program countywide.<ref name="SD">Compton Sheriff's Station 2009 Year in review publication {{Verify source|date=December 2023}}</ref>