Historic low in NYC, Chicago homicides

Yahoo News ^ | 12/29/2007

[pleikumud]

NEW YORK - Chicago and New York are about to close out 2007 with the lowest number of homicides in more than 40 years, while cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami have seen killings go up because of what police say is a surge in guns and gang violence.

[mewzilla]

FBI Gets Involved In Miami Crime Statistics Probe

Trust but verify :)

[maica]

The Baltimore Sun has one good feature, an interactive map that shows homicides by age, or race, or sex, or location, or time interval. Perhaps that is their way of portraying the racial disparity. If the total American homicide information could be separated by race, I am sure that we would not be considered a high murder rate country. City for city, the homicide rate by whites would be no different than cities in Canada or the UK or Denmark, etc.

http://essentials.baltimoresun.com/micro_sun/homicides/

{Choose a time interval first, then any other buttons for a variety of stats}

[csvset]

Very interesting, thanks for posting it.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

In 1939 there were 40 murders in New York.

I remember growing up in NYC in the 50's and 60's. The murder rate skyrocketed in the late 60's, in part, perhaps, because of abolition of the death penalty.

People will think I'm crazy, but in the early 60's there was only a token police presence on the subways (I never saw one) and crime on the subways was all but unheard of. The year Bernie Getz defended himself there was something like 10,000 felonies on the subways, some stations had become gang territory and there was a cop on every train and every station.

[panthermom]

That map was horrifying to me. I really don’t know what to say about it other than how can people live like that? It’s not the guns, it’s the people themselves. It’s hard for me to grasp that people can believe that life is so cheap.

[montag813]

cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami have seen killings go up because of what police say is a surge in guns and gang violence.

In other words, illegals, and MS-13. But they won't say that.

[Kid Shelleen]

I think they cherry picked the murder the stats. Look at the murder rates in Philly, Baltimore and Detroit not to mention dozens of smaller cities like Camden, NJ or Chester PA.

[rellimpank]

—my cydical guess is that the drug trade is effectively a monopoly, so no need for inter-gang wars-—homicide has reverted to the drunk partner fight, etc.,—

[rb22982]

WOW that is even more lobsided than I would have expected.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Of course the media talks about the "surge in guns" as if guns had just been invented or had never been mass-produced before.

I have experienced a "surge in guns" in my own household. I have more guns now than I had ten or five years ago. More ominously, I have also experienced "gun proliferation" as a few of these weapons have migrated to my second home. I am also pretty sure that many of my guns have crossed a state line at some time or other, and somehow crossing state lines makes guns more violent, or so I have heard.

According to people like mayor Bloomberg, I should by now be awash in "gun violence," what with all these guns surging and proliferating. But my guns don't "surge" at all -- they just stupidly sit there and don't move unless I pick one up. And they don't proliferate on their own -- at least mine don't. I had hoped that my guns would increase on their own, as the media says they magically do. But no, I have to go out and buy the darn things when I want their numbers to proliferate. And I have not witnessed an increase in violence -- be it "gun violence" or "butter knife violence," even though I shoot my guns on occasion. I am beginning to think that my guns must be defective.

[Popman]

It also doesn't talk about the fact that 50% of all violent crimes are committed by blacks,

Not only that, but those crimes are committed by black on other blacks

[Lord Basil]

FWIW: undercounting murders in Houston.

[Alberta's Child]

If newspaper headline and news stories are any indication, shootings in New York City have actually been UP in the last few years. I suspect that advances in medical care in recent years and improvements in EMS response times have resulted in more of these people surviving the attacks and therefore fewer murders to report.

[Huck]

You forgot to mention lollipops grew on trees and gumdrops were good for you.

[bill1952]

Actually, having less than 400 murders isn’t a bad statistic at all for L.A, given the past number of murders there.

Its a shame that we speak in such figures on a city by city basis.

Thanks for the clarification - Bill

[bill1952]

Bingo. I’m going to save that post to disk. Thanks. - bill

[ricks_place]

Historic low in NYC, Chicago homicides - Gotta be Global Warming Climate Change!

[freekitty]

How does anyone really know if this is true. Isn’t Bloomberg suppose to setting up his run for the Presidency? And doesn’t Obama come from Chicago or around there?

[Hawthorn]

> In 1939 there were 40 murders in New York <

And according to Justice Scalia, high school boys commonly carried their .22 rifles on the subway!

[July 4th]

Odd that it doesn’t mention LA right off the bat; Los Angeles is on pace for its lowest number of murders in four decades.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard that the LA real estate boom has edged people out of the poorer neighborhoods. This has exported some crime to the valley.