Violent crimes involving teens increased in Charlotte in 2023. What about other crimes?

Julia Coin
·6 min read

In Charlotte last year, more shots were fired — and more youths were shot.

The rapidly growing city also saw more assaults, more arrests and more stolen cars.

Simply put, crime is up, according to data shared during a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department news conference Thursday. Its review of 2023 crime focused largely on juveniles as both victims and suspects in citywide crime.

Here’s a look at the data.

Violent crimes involving juveniles

While violent crimes stayed flat in 2023, aggravated assaults rose 3% and shootings increased 7%, police said.

Those bullets struck 18% more juveniles than 2022, and police named 108 juveniles as suspects in shootings — a 33% increase.

“This issue goes beyond law enforcement,” CMPD said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s a societal issue that needs community-based solutions including better conflict resolution and more outlets for young people.”

Shootings can have lasting effects on youth. What’s being done to help in Mecklenburg?

More bullets were also fired through or inside homes and apartments, striking innocent people — many of them kids.

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Taking guns off the streets

To prevent violent crimes in uptown Charlotte, police this year launched “Operation Heartbeat,” which put more officers near “high-volume crime areas,” like those surrounding the Charlotte Transit Center and Spectrum Center.

In uptown and South End, violent crimes decreased 36% and robberies decreased 43%, CMPD said.

Across Charlotte, officers took 3,432 firearms off the streets — 10% more than 2022. The Crime Gun Suspension Team, focused on investigating repeat offenders, arrested 212 people and seized 244 of those guns — 49 of which were stolen.

In a “disturbing trend,” teens were involved in many of those cases, police said.

Overdose rates and fentanyl use among teens

Teens were also disturbingly impacted by rising overdose rates and fentanyl use, the Observer found.

A recent investigation found teens easily buy fentanyl advertised as prescription pain pills to deliberately escalate drug use or as a coping mechanism for chronic mental health problems.

‘Not my kid.’ How $7 pills get Charlotte teens hooked on fentanyl

The Observer’s data analysis shows drug incidents in Charlotte public schools have reached a 10-year high and outpace the increase of drugs statewide in schools. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, district leaders plan to stock Narcan, an FDA-approved medicine that can reverse or lessen the likelihood of death from a drug overdose.

CMPD launched an anti-fentanyl campaign aimed at young teens in November. Following its launch, overall overdose fatalities in Charlotte fell by 33%, police said.

More teens being arrested, stealing cars

Officers arrested 3,016 youths this year — a 34% increase from 2022. In 2023, three juvenile offenders had a collective 122 charges. As teens continue “racking up charges,” the Department of Juvenile Justice has repeatedly denied officers’ requests for secure custody orders.

“This should be extremely alarming that children are allowed to wreak havoc of this magnitude in the city with minimal consequences,” police said.

While juveniles can be arrested and taken into temporary police custody, a court order is required for police to keep them in custody, according to state statutes. A judge must find “reasonable factual basis to believe that the juvenile actually committed the offense as alleged,” according to the North Carolina Department of Justice.

More than 440 young, first-time offenders participated in CMPD’s 2023 Youth Diversion Program, and 95% did not re-offend, police said.

But teens continued to fuel a 120% increase in car thefts, which contributed to a 17% spike in property crimes

More than 8,000 cars were stolen — about 22 cars each day. The phenomena, police say, is thanks to Charlotte teens.

Teens account for 68% of all stolen cars in the area. Kia and Hyundai cars are still stolen most — as inspired by the “Kia Challenge,” as The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Officers recovered 62% of the stolen cars and made more than 1,200 arrests — a 98% increase from 2022.

Specifically, CMPD’s Stolen Car and Recovery Law Enforcement Team, or SCARLET, uncovered a “vast network of crime” when it recovered 180 stolen high-end cars valued at more than $11 million. It also seized 111 guns, recovered more than $900,000 of narcotics and filed more than 800 charges.

Charlotte homicides decreased last year

Last year’s 95 reported homicides showed an 11% drop compared to 2022. Mecklenburg County’s District Attorney’s office could remove eight of those after a review, police said.

CMPD’s Homicide Unit’s 80% solve rate again outpaced the national average: 52%.

“Each homicide in Charlotte is a homicide too many,” police said. “Our clearance rate is so high because our detectives don’t forget our victims and never stop working to find answers and seek justice.”

The Cold Case unit continues to use and develop DNA testing to solve decades-old crimes. In 2023, police identified the remains of a man found along Interstate 85, a missing person and a World War II Veteran found at the bottom of an uptown Charlotte elevator shaft.

Charlotte 2023 crime statistics

  • Violent crimes: 7,221 offenses in 2023 compared to 7,213 offenses in 2022.

  • Homicides: 95 in 2023 compared to 107 in 2022.

  • Aggravated assaults: 5,546 in 2023 compared to 5,368 in 2022.

  • Rapes: 244 in 2023 compared to 286 in 2022.

  • Armed robberies: 1,335 in 2023 compared to 1,452 in 2022.

  • Property crimes: 38,187 offenses in 2023 compared to 32,757 in 2022.

  • Residential burglaries: 1,965 in 2023 compared to 2,013 in 2022.

  • Commercial burglaries: 2,365 in 2023 compared to 2,118 in 2022.

  • Larcenies from automobiles: 11,323 in 2023 compared to 10,444 in 2022.

  • Vehicle thefts: 8,032 in 2023 compared to 3,648 in 2022.

  • Arsons: 148 in 2023 compared to 148 in 2022.