Despite Recession, Violent Crime In US Drops—Except In NYC

Via Ken Stein's Flickr

Despite the prediction that the unflagging economic depression (what recession?) would cause crime in the United States to skyrocket, experts are "baffled" that the exact opposite has occurred—except in New York City. The Times reports that the FBI's latest crime statistics for 2010 show that violent crime is "at the lowest rate in nearly 40 years," and the "odds of being murdered or robbed are now less than half of what they were in the early 1990s."

Regionally, the West, Midwest, and South combined for a total drop of 19.2%, while the Northeast only saw a drop of 0.4%. New York City in particular had 65 more murders in 2010 as it did in 2009, and rapes also increased by 24.4%, and "was the only city with more than a million people besides San Antonio with an increase in the total number of violent crimes."

Some experts believe that the jump in the city's violent crime rate is related to its massive drop in the past two decades, as if there was nowhere for it to go but up: "It's been so huge, there's always been this lingering question, how low could it go?" Others say that while police officials usually say these jumps relate to an increase in reporting, a criminal justice professor at John Jay says that's only a "partial explanation," the other reasons being "increased scrutiny of the integrity of the department's crime statistics."

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By Christopher Robbins in News on May 24, 2011 2:14 PM

Comments [rss]

jamieob256

The murder rate in Newark, NJ is on the rise, too.

TakeThePledge

Nobody thought making the NYPD smaller would have this kind of impact? Either let them hire cops or don't make a big scene when crime starts to go up.

Fronko

It's because the NYPD is so busy ticketing cyclists for not wearing "helments" and fixing speeding tickets for their pals that they have no time to stop murderers and rapists.

Guest

so how is that concealed carry ban working for ya, NYC?

ktinnyc

Better then the one in Miami. The murder rate there is much higher then in NYC.

The2ndComing

Maybe you need to travel around the city you live in and not judge from your TV set. Every borough (maybe except SI), just about every year has more murders than a Miami or a Boston ect. I think you're watching a little too much of "the first 48". Just imagen if NYC had its own series of the first 48. It would probably take 1 week in NYC to make a series that would take Miami an entire year to put together.... But I wasn't expecting you to know that

ktinnyc

Murder rate by state in 2009; FL 5.5 per 100k, NY 4.0 per 100k.

Murder rate by City in 2009; Miami .14 per 1k, NYC .06 per 1k.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius20...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...

The2ndComing

Wikipedia?!? LAUGHING MY EFN ASS OFF!.. You're relying on a source known for its garbage.... ok... anyway, considering NYC has over 30,000 police officers and Miami having what -- 500 or so, let's compare the crime rate of the Bronx alone to Miami with the BX having almost 200 homicides last year and how many did Miami have? .. That "per capita" trash you're relying on is irrelevant when comparing cities bcuz you would have to look at the amount of police presence, demographics, eye witnesses ect.. Let's just trade police departments with Miami for a week and I bet you'd be on the first flight to the sunshine state. Or, take the BX and put it in Miami and you would see the results in no time. Point is, NYC is the biggest city which means more ppl, more drugs, more shootings, more killings, more rapes ect which means more of a chance of you being victim of a horrible crime... Just look at what happened to Trevonne Winn from South Carolina. He got killed just for standing there in Brooklyn. But I bet he thought what you're thinking -- if they say its the safest city in the world, then nothing can happen -- right?

BoogieDown

"Safest city in the world"? You haven't traveled much, have you? While NYC was the safest city in the UNITED STATES (a country with astounding violent crime rates for a developed nation) for a while, never, ever has it been anywhere close to being the safest city in the world.

ktinnyc

" Point is, NYC is the biggest city which means more ppl, more drugs, more shootings, more killings, more rapes ect which means more of a chance of you being victim of a horrible crime..."

You're embarrassing yourself. You don't know what per capita means, do you?

Guest

That's because it's so damn hot down there. Heat will make anyone shoot someone.

MattyGC

Maybe because NYC is a fucking shithole?

MattyGC

jk, I just wanted to say that for some strange reason.

Guest

No need to apologize for the truth.

TimSPC

Can we blame Bloomberg? I don't even need proof or anything. I just think it would be funny if Bloomberg took the blame here.

Joel Ceballos

People are too busy watching reality tv, gorging on unhealthy mindnumbing foods, and obsessing over a certain birth certificate to care about committing a crime.