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In the states with high murder rates, most of the murders are concentrated in poor and low-income minority areas. It has everything to do with the age-old American issue of cycles of poverty and the consequent lack of resources and opportunities for these people.
Outside of these pockets, the crime rate is actually very low. Most people who live in or travel in these states never see violent crime or rarely see any crime. For the most part, America is a very safe country - and that includes every state.
You forgot to bold Maryland and Delaware, both technically Southern states. Missouri is a mixed bag, leaving only Michigan as the truly Northern state on the top 10 list.
Here it is again, revised (red = South; blue = North; purple = both/neither):
1. Louisiana- 10.8 per 100,000
2. Mississippi- 7.4 per 100,000
3. Alabama- 7.1 per 100,000
4. Michigan- 7.0 per 100,000
5. South Carolina- 6.9 per 100,000
6. Missouri- 6.5 per 100,000
7. Maryland- 6.3 per 100,000
8. Delaware- 6.2 per 100,000
9. Tennessee- 6 per 100,000
10. tie. Georgia- 5.9 per 100,000
10. tie. Alabama- 5.9 per 100,000
Maryland and Delaware are not southern in anyway. The closest to southern bible belt culture would be Missouri.
The only people that will say Maryland is southern are people that insist that DC and Baltimore is southern.
The three killings occurred in February, continuing the homicide rate that in 1982 put Odessa, with 29.8 homicides per 100,000 population, marginally ahead of Miami, with 29.7 per 100,000, as the city with the highest murder rate per capita in the United States. The figures were compiled by the National Coaltion to Ban Handguns from the Uniform Crime Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 1982.
Three other Texas metropolitan areas were among the 10 with the most homicides per 100,000 population: Houston, third, with 28.2, Longview-Marshall, fifth, with 21.6, and San Antonio, 10th, with 18.5.
Three more Texas cities were among the top 20 metropolitan areas in terms of homicide rates: Odessa's sister city of Midland, 13th, with 18.0 homicides per 100,000; Waco, 14th, with 17.9, and Dallas-Fort Worth, 18th, with 15.9.
New York City ranked ninth among metropolitan areas, with 19.1 homicides per 100,000 population. Oil Boom Is Blamed
In Odessa, the murder rate has sharply accelerated since it became No. 1 last year in murders per capita. City and police officials attribute the increase to the oil boom, which attracted transients looking for work, then left them frustrated when the boom turned to bust.
''When the oilfield went dry, a lot of people started leaving, a lot stayed and got mad,'' said Officer Mike McKnight, a spokesman for the Odessa Police Department.
The department recorded 27 homicides in 1982 and 22 already in the first seven months of 1983. Mr. McKnight said the killings typically resulted from fights among friends or within families and were committed with pistols.
In Houston, which has been at the top of the ranking in some years, pistols accounted for 55 to 60 percent of the homicides, and the largest category of victims was Hispanic males. Breadown of Victims
According to Detective Charles E. Reynolds of the homicide division of the Houston Police Department, of the 398 homicides in the first eight months of this year, 124 were Hispanic males, 115 black males, 84 white males, 31 black females, 26 white females, 12 Hispanic females and 6 Oriental males.
''A lot of it is just Saturday night shooting,'' Detective Reynolds said. ''They happen in the bars and the parking lots.''
One reason for the high rate of homicides among Hispanic people, he said, is that they are often more reluctant to involve the police in disputes, which thus get out of hand.
In addition, he said, although no statistics are kept, ''I'd say a larger percentage would be illegals,'' people in this country without documentation, and thus even more reluctant to involve the police.
''It's handguns and knives,'' said Lieut. Jack Summey, chief of the homicide division of the San Antonio Police Department, which recorded the 10th highest homicide rate in the country last year. ''They occur in and around the bar areas in the low-income neighborhoods,'' he said.
Longview, which with nearby Marshall ranked fifth in the country in homicides per 100,000, is a town of about 65,000 people, heavily reliant on the oil industry. Homicides there, Police Chief James McLaughlin said, are mostly domestic, and most are solved promptly."
Last edited by caliguy92832; 05-20-2014 at 10:50 AM..
Reason: :
The three killings occurred in February, continuing the homicide rate that in 1982 put Odessa, with 29.8 homicides per 100,000 population, marginally ahead of Miami, with 29.7 per 100,000, as the city with the highest murder rate per capita in the United States. The figures were compiled by the National Coaltion to Ban Handguns from the Uniform Crime Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 1982.
Three other Texas metropolitan areas were among the 10 with the most homicides per 100,000 population: Houston, third, with 28.2, Longview-Marshall, fifth, with 21.6, and San Antonio, 10th, with 18.5.
Three more Texas cities were among the top 20 metropolitan areas in terms of homicide rates: Odessa's sister city of Midland, 13th, with 18.0 homicides per 100,000; Waco, 14th, with 17.9, and Dallas-Fort Worth, 18th, with 15.9.
New York City ranked ninth among metropolitan areas, with 19.1 homicides per 100,000 population.
And here's that full report if you want to look up the figures -
The three killings occurred in February, continuing the homicide rate that in 1982 put Odessa, with 29.8 homicides per 100,000 population, marginally ahead of Miami, with 29.7 per 100,000, as the city with the highest murder rate per capita in the United States. The figures were compiled by the National Coaltion to Ban Handguns from the Uniform Crime Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 1982.
Three other Texas metropolitan areas were among the 10 with the most homicides per 100,000 population: Houston, third, with 28.2, Longview-Marshall, fifth, with 21.6, and San Antonio, 10th, with 18.5.
Three more Texas cities were among the top 20 metropolitan areas in terms of homicide rates: Odessa's sister city of Midland, 13th, with 18.0 homicides per 100,000; Waco, 14th, with 17.9, and Dallas-Fort Worth, 18th, with 15.9.
New York City ranked ninth among metropolitan areas, with 19.1 homicides per 100,000 population. Oil Boom Is Blamed
In Odessa, the murder rate has sharply accelerated since it became No. 1 last year in murders per capita. City and police officials attribute the increase to the oil boom, which attracted transients looking for work, then left them frustrated when the boom turned to bust.
''When the oilfield went dry, a lot of people started leaving, a lot stayed and got mad,'' said Officer Mike McKnight, a spokesman for the Odessa Police Department.
The department recorded 27 homicides in 1982 and 22 already in the first seven months of 1983. Mr. McKnight said the killings typically resulted from fights among friends or within families and were committed with pistols.
In Houston, which has been at the top of the ranking in some years, pistols accounted for 55 to 60 percent of the homicides, and the largest category of victims was Hispanic males. Breadown of Victims
According to Detective Charles E. Reynolds of the homicide division of the Houston Police Department, of the 398 homicides in the first eight months of this year, 124 were Hispanic males, 115 black males, 84 white males, 31 black females, 26 white females, 12 Hispanic females and 6 Oriental males.
''A lot of it is just Saturday night shooting,'' Detective Reynolds said. ''They happen in the bars and the parking lots.''
One reason for the high rate of homicides among Hispanic people, he said, is that they are often more reluctant to involve the police in disputes, which thus get out of hand.
In addition, he said, although no statistics are kept, ''I'd say a larger percentage would be illegals,'' people in this country without documentation, and thus even more reluctant to involve the police.
''It's handguns and knives,'' said Lieut. Jack Summey, chief of the homicide division of the San Antonio Police Department, which recorded the 10th highest homicide rate in the country last year. ''They occur in and around the bar areas in the low-income neighborhoods,'' he said.
Longview, which with nearby Marshall ranked fifth in the country in homicides per 100,000, is a town of about 65,000 people, heavily reliant on the oil industry. Homicides there, Police Chief James McLaughlin said, are mostly domestic, and most are solved promptly."
I see that Georgia is EVERYTHING negative on this site.
The most dangerous?
Woo Chile, let me get up outta here.
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Published: September 17, 1983
