More murders in Chicago. Fewer in NYC. Clearly something is going on. But generally you’ll hear nothing but crickets (or winter winds) blow through the ivory towers. It’s a real shame. These days, most academics will (almost reluctantly) concede that effective policing may play a roll in reducing homicide. And yet still very few academics would dare consider the hypothesis…
Tag: homicide
Bang Bang, That Awful Sound
Chicago’s 2012 murder total was 532. NYC’s total number for 2012 was 417. Even in absolute numbers this is significantly lower than Chicago! Amazing. The comparable homicide rates for NYC and Chicago are 5 and 20 per 100,000. Homicides in New York City declined 19 percent from 2011 (just to remember: in 1990 2,245 people were killed in NYC). To…
Bang Bang, He Shot Me Down
Eleven people were shot in Chicagoearly New Year’s Day. Nine were shot New Year’s morning in New York City. Happy New Year. Meanwhile, best I can tell, nobody was shot in Baltimore! The Baltimore Sun gives a crude but useful breakdown of basic homicide demographics for the 217 killings in Charm City in 2012. Of note: A low Baltimore clearance…
While I’m out…
Check out this lengthy piece (and well worth reading the whole thing) by David Simon about murders, stats, the BPD, the state’s attorney’s office, and the need for main-stream media. (And thanks to an anonymous comment for cluing me in.) The Stat: In 2011, the Baltimore Police Department charged 70 defendants with murder or manslaughter. Yet in 2010, the department charged…
Homicide: Toronto vs. Chicago
I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth a second telling. Besides, how many of you read footnote #14 to the Epilogue of Cop in the Hood? Chicago and Toronto are similar sized cities. Chicago is having a record low number of murders; Toronto is having a record high number of murders. Chicago is patting itself on the back; Toronto…
The Racial Reality
Using the Baltimore Sun’sfun interactive homicide chart, these are the sad and politically incorrect totals for 2010: 223 homicides: 202 black (91%), 13 white, 5 Hispanic, 1 Asian, 2 unknown(?). Overall, the 2009 population of Baltimore is estimated to be 63% African American and 33% white. So roughly, the black homicide rate (50) is eight times the white homicide rate…
Murders down again in NYC
Illustrating once again that crime and the economy are not inherently linked. The storyin the New York Times.
Immigrants and Violence
In my gut I know that immigrants make neighborhoods safer (at least in this country). I also happen to live in and love a county where 46% of everybody is born in another country. That figure always amazes me… and when you consider the kids of immigrant parents, well, there’s just not too much else left. I get kind of…
John Jay College student’s killer get life without parole
“Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges called Littlejohn, 44, an unrepentant ‘predator’ who should never taste freedom again.” The story in the Daily News
Homicides and Race
The New York Times has a nice map of homicides in the city. You can select by various variables, but unfortunately not more than one at a time. The Baltimore Sun has a similar but better map. I’m always a bit surprised by just how few white homicide victims there are. Or, conversely, how many of the victims are minority.…