Based on the article of McIntyre et al., the FBI report shows that in 2010, the violent crimes significantly dropped by 5.5 percent, while the property crimes went down by at least 2.8 percent that occurred during the worst economic slowdown in history, particularly when the Great Depression took place. However, though the declines appeared to be significant, majority of the states in the U.S. had experienced that decreased crime rates, the Northeast regions in the country increased the reported incidents of murders, which accelerated by 8.3 percent, aggravated assaults that increased by 0.7 percent, while the number of reported forcible rape cases climbed by 1.4 percent. Though there was no clear explanation why there were some regions that appeared to have increase in the number of the said particular crimes, it was presumed that poverty was the main reason for the rising criminality rate. The authors explained that the high cost of living in some cities within the country was the possible reason that influenced the people to commit the crimes.
In the article, it was shown that the crime rate in the year 2010 based on the FBI report was dominated particularly by Detroit, New Haven, and Baltimore, where crime became rampant. It was also shown that violent crimes were committed in Detroit specifically in Palmer Avenue area in the city. In Memphis, the area covering Lamar Avenue was also plagued with violent crimes. The poor cities were crime stricken compared to the ritzy neighborhoods within other states where criminality is low. This can be illustrated by the Pratt Street neighborhood in Baltimore where the new office towers of companies including rich corporations like T Rowe Price can be found. Based in the FBI report, the crime rate to determine the order of crimes and was measured based on per thousand people. The figures were analyzed together with the median income and unemployment rates. Although it appeared that the recession ended in the troubled cities, the crime rate is still evident within the cities such as Flint, Michigan, Detroit, St Louis, New Haven in Connecticut, Memphis, Oakland, Little Rock Arkansas, Rockford in Illinois, Stockton in California and in Baltimore. These are the cities that had the highest unemployment rate and the economies in these cities have not completely recovered.
Based on the 2010 FBI report, the city that had the most number of murders is Detroit which is 310 reported incidents. The city with the lowest number of murders is in Rockford Illinois which on had 22 reported incidents.
In New York, New York, it was reported that “the number of murders as of 2012 was 419, with a population of 8,289,415” (FBI.gov). Based on the Uniform Crime Report of 2014, in the case of Alaska, it was reported that the number of “murders and non-negligent homicides, increased by 20.6 percent, in comparison to only 34 murder incidents in 2013” (Shedlock 1).
Since New York City is a highly urbanized city compared to Alaska, there is a greater tendency that murder rate is high in New York compared to the latter. As the population increases, there is also a tendency that violent crimes increase due to unemployment. Aside from this, the murder incidents are also influenced by drug-related cases and gun-related death caused by street gangs. The crime rate in Alaska is much lower due to lower number or residents and fewer gang related incidents.
Works Cited:
“FBI Crime in the United States in 2012”. Fbi.gov. January 19, 2016, from
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/8tabledatadecpdf/table-8-state-cuts/table_8_offenses_known_to_law_enforcement_by_new_york_by_city_2012.xls.
Shedlock, Jerzy. FBI crime stats say murder rate up, rapes down in Alaska in 2014. Alaska Dispatch News.com. January 19, 2016, from http://www.adn.com/article/20151008/fbi-crime-stats-say-murder-rate-rapes-down-alaska-2014.
