Worst States for Murder / Homicide (crime, living, murder rate)

[jacobwilliam77]

What a perfect post for Halloween .

Anyways the latest U.S. FBI Crime Report FBI — Crime in the U.S. 2011 came out a few days ago and here are the worst (and the best) states for murder and there rates.

THE WORST
1. Puerto Rico 30.6
2. District Of Columbia 17.5
3. Louisiana 11.1
4. Mississippi 8.0
5. New Mexico 7.5
6. Maryland 6.8
6. South Carolina 6.8
8. Alabama 6.3
9. Arizona 6.2
9. Michigan 6.2

THE BEST
1. Hawaii 1.2
2. New Hampshire 1.3
2. Rhode Island 1.3
2. Vermont 1.3
5. Minnesota 1.4
6. Iowa 1.5
7. Utah 1.9
8. Maine 2.0
9. Oregon 2.1
10. Idaho 2.3

The U.S. murder rate was 4.7.

[polo89]

Per Capita, the worst are the one's you've pretty much listed. In terms of Raw numbers, the worst are the largest states in population: CA, TX, FL, NY, IL in that order.

[1greatcity]

Originally Posted by polo89

Per Capita, the worst are the one's you've pretty much listed. In terms of Raw numbers, the worst are the largest states in population: CA, TX, FL, NY, IL in that order.

Not surprising....aren't those the most populous states? As well as the states that contain the four largest cities? Then it would follow that the highest raw numbers would be for those states.

[polo89]

I always heard Arizona was high-crime collectively as far as small towns and big cities go.

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by 1greatcity

Not surprising....aren't those the most populous states? As well as the states that contain the four largest cities? Then it would follow that the highest raw numbers would be for those states.

They are, in that order. I'm curious if, in terms of raw numbers, PA would be 6th on this list, since Pennsylvania is very close to Illinois in population.

What is surprising is, there are so many southern states with high per-capita crime. What happened to the good ol boys?

[1greatcity]

Originally Posted by BTA88

They are, in that order. I'm curious if, in terms of raw numbers, PA would be 6th on this list, since Pennsylvania is very close to Illinois in population.

What is surprising is, there are so many southern states with high per-capita crime. What happened to the good ol boys?

Significant portions of the South are living at or below the poverty level. That alone is often a root cause for crime and violence.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by 1greatcity

Significant portions of the South are living at or below the poverty level. That alone is often a root cause for crime and violence.

Well that's a theory..... except for the fact that Puerto Rico (#1), the District of Columbia (#2), Maryland (#6), New Mexico (#5), Arizona (#9) and Michigan (#9) aren't located in the "South".

[StreetSmarts]

I was going to guess Louisiana as number 1. Which technically it is as far as states go. Not surprised really at all by the top (worst) 10, although probably Michigan is one that I wouldn't have guessed to be in the mix.

[danielj72]

Originally Posted by ComSense

I was going to guess Louisiana as number 1. Which technically it is as far as states go. Not surprised really at all by the top (worst) 10, although probably Michigan is one that I wouldn't have guessed to be in the mix.

Michigan is only on the list because of Detroit. The rest of Michigan is not like that at all. Detroit is the worst of the worst, and it sure drags down this state.

[ja1myn]

Seems legit.