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No.

Since David Crowley became Milwaukee County executive, the number of juvenile homicide victims in the county has ranged between 19 and 27 annually, with no clear trend upward or downward.

Crowley, who was sworn in in May 2020, is the Democratic nominee for Wisconsin governor in the Nov. 3 election.

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Here are the number of Milwaukee County homicide victims ages 6-17:

2025: 19 

2024: 27

2023: 22

2022: 25

2021: 21

2020: 19

An Americans for Prosperity ad claimed that “under Crowley, Milwaukee juvenile homicides surged 57%.”

The figure refers to juvenile homicide suspects, not homicide deaths, in the city of Milwaukee and not countywide.

In January, Milwaukee police said 22 juvenile homicide suspects in the city in 2025 were a 57% increase from 2024.

Most law enforcement in the county is done by city and village police departments. They are not under the control of the county executive.

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Tom Kertscher joined Wisconsin Watch as a full-time reporter in October 2024. He started as a fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.