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Fact check: How many lynchings have been reported in the United States since 2020?
Executive Summary
Official tallies of formal “lynchings” in the United States since 2020 are not captured by a single, authoritative federal database; instead, contemporary claims consist of a small number of high-profile alleged lynchings or hanging deaths that have prompted local investigations and community debate. Reporting and activist counts identify several suspected cases and contested rulings—most prominently incidents in Mississippi, North Carolina, and New York between 2022 and 2025—but official agencies often ruled many of these deaths suicides or left findings unresolved, producing no consolidated national count [1] [2] [3].
1. Why counting modern lynchings is harder than it looks
Historical datasets recorded 4,743 lynchings from 1882–1968, creating a clear statistical baseline for the past; no equivalent, consistent contemporary registry exists for post-2020 incidents, and law enforcement’s immediate determinations—suicide, homicide, or undetermined—often do not use the term “lynching,” which is legally and historically loaded. Journalistic and civil rights organizations have flagged recent hanging deaths and brutal murders as “modern lynchings” when racial motive or mob-style violence is alleged, but those characterizations vary by author and date. This inconsistency leaves public attempts to count post-2020 lynchings fragmented and reliant on case-by-case advocacy and reporting [2] [1] [4].
2. Specific contested cases that drive the debate
Three contested, widely reported incidents since 2020 have become focal points: the 2022 murder of Rasheem Carter in Mississippi described as a “modern-day lynching” by some observers due to the brutality and racial context; a 2024–2025 wave of hanging deaths that families and advocates questioned in Mississippi and New York; and allegations in North Carolina that family members contested initial suicide rulings. These individual cases, not a consolidated dataset, underpin claims that lynchings persist or have “gone underground.” Each case has different official conclusions and advocacy responses, complicating any simple numeric answer [1] [2] [3].
3. How authorities and families have disagreed on causes
Local police in several high-profile incidents have officially ruled deaths suicides, while families, civil rights attorneys, and community leaders have demanded further investigation, citing historical patterns of rushed or flawed inquiries in areas with histories of racial violence. For example, a 2025 upstate New York hanging was ruled a suicide by police yet drew public scrutiny because of the broader historical context; similar dynamics played out in Mississippi with families hiring civil rights attorneys and calling for independent autopsies. Those disagreements magnify uncertainty about classification and inclusion in any “lynching” count [2] [5].
4. What activist investigators and journalists are documenting
Investigative journalists and civil rights lawyers have cataloged multiple suspected lynchings or suspicious hangings since 2000, with concentrated attention on Mississippi where at least eight suspected lynchings were noted in one long-form investigation and where advocates argue investigations were cursory. Contemporary reporting (2024–2025) repeats those concerns, arguing that patterns—shoddy probes, quick suicide rulings, and racialized settings—suggest undercounting if one looks only to official determinations. These independent counts are advocacy-informed and important for public awareness but differ from legal or coroner-based tallies [4] [1].
5. Dates, sources, and the chronology that matters
The materials assembled here span reporting dated from 2021 through October 2025; notable reports include a 2024 piece framing a 2022 Mississippi murder as lynching, a 2025 New York hanging reported in July, and continued coverage into October 2025 of a Mississippi university hanging that families dispute. That chronological spread demonstrates sustained media and advocacy attention rather than a single cluster of incidents. Differences in publication dates and local rulings mean any count will vary depending on when and which reports you include [1] [2] [3].
6. What this implies for answering “How many since 2020?”
Because official agencies have not produced a unified post-2020 lynching metric and because journalists and advocates use differing criteria, the most defensible statement is that several high-profile alleged lynchings or suspicious hangings have been reported since 2020, but these reports do not converge into a single agreed-upon numerical total. Attempts to produce a single number will depend on whether you include only confirmed criminal lynchings, include contested hangings labeled by families or activists as lynchings, or count broader acts of racially motivated mob violence [1] [4].
7. Recommended next steps to get a more precise count
To move from contested anecdotes to a reliable figure requires three steps: public release of coroner and law enforcement records on hanging deaths since 2020, independent reviews of cases where families dispute suicide rulings, and a transparent, criteria-based registry maintained by impartial researchers. Absent those measures, any numeric claim will reflect the compiler’s definitional choices more than a settled fact. Readers should treat media-counts and advocacy tallies as partial inventories, not authoritative national statistics [5] [4].