Last year, America’s big cities continued the slow, but steady decline in murders.
Though not at the breakneck pace we saw last year, the nation’s largest cities continued to witness steady declines in both total murders and murder rates in 2014.
Data provided by police departments in the 10 cities with the highest number of murders in 2013 shows that six out of 10 saw a significant drops in both total murders and murder rates in 2014. Baltimore and Detroit led the pack with the sharpest declines over last year, but a look at an impressive big picture shows that Los Angeles and New York have managed to cut murders in their city by roughly half. Not every mayor will be celebrating, however—Philadelphia couldn’t make a dent in its homicides this year, and both Indianapolis and Houston saw some significant increases.
I couldn't help but notice that for most of the cities the decline is next to nothing. I'd say it's easily attributable to the ever-increasing emergency services provided to victims of shootings. Perhaps a better indicator is shootings rather than murders.
One could surmise that with fewer people owning guns and the murder rate remaining about the same (in some cases it actually increased), things are not improving as the gun rights fanatics keep saying.
"One could surmise that with fewer people owning guns and the murder rate remaining about the same (in some cases it actually increased), things are not improving as the gun rights fanatics keep saying."
ReplyDeleteYou could "surmise" that, but you would be wrong.
Oh, really?
DeleteWonder what they used as an excuse to not include DC in this article. I actually think that the violent crime rate is more illustrative. In DC, they truly excelled coming in with a violent crime rate of 1,300/100k in 2013, as opposed to Detroit's rate of 569/100k.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/violent-crime/violent-crime-topic-page/violentcrimemain_final
Do you see some advantage in their leaving DC out?
DeleteMikeB: "Perhaps a better indicator is shootings rather than murders."
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you show us that shootings are up for the whole country then? You must really hate that we're at a 100 year low for murder. For normal people, this is considered a good thing.
That's a stupid petty thing to say. I guess you've got nothing better, which is weird. Usually you can go on and on even when you've got nothing better.
DeleteAre shootings up for the whole country?
DeleteI looked and couldn't find anything. Are shootings down?
DeleteI don't know for sure, but probably. All other crime is down.
DeleteProbably? Now that doesn't sound like you.
DeleteShootings are up in NY. They're probably up overall.
MikeB: "Shootings are up in NY. They're probably up overall."
DeleteNow that sounds like you.
What do you mean by my saying "probably" doesn't sound like me? I don't make definitive statements without something to back it up. I haven't seen data on shootings to be sure, but given how crime is down across the board it's probably likely that shootings are down to. I certainly wouldn't say that whatever is going on in New York City is likely to be true for the rest of the country.
Why is it that you seem to think a one year trend significant in these instances, yet you so easily discount a one year, fairly good sized increase in the percentage of households with guns?
ReplyDeleteThe graphs in this article cover 10 years.
Delete"The graphs in this article cover 10 years."
DeleteBy all means, lets look at longer term trends. From 2004 to 2013 the national aggravated assault rate dropped 14.5%.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/1tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_1_crime_in_the_united_states_by_volume_and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1994-2013.xls
You're cherry picking. The post is about murder and murder rates.
DeleteMike, you suggested that a better indication is shootings, and I agree. The FBI tracks those as aggravated assaults. In 2013, just under 51% of aggravated assaults were committed with firearms.
DeleteAnd the article also mentioned that homicides are dropping also.
"In 2013, just under 51% of aggravated assaults were committed with firearms."
DeleteJUST!
51% is a clear majority and the next most commonly used weapon doesn't even come close.
Good point, Sammy. It's not like firearms won 51% to 49%.
Delete