Topics GeographyHeadlinesInfrastructureKatrinaNeighborhoodsPeopleRecreation
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Orleans murder rate is (was) out of control. But it is not random violence. Superimposed on top of the 5-10 murders per 100,000 population you see across America are the drug crimes. They are overwhelmingly black on black killings fueled by the ruinous illegal, underground drug trade. If you come to New Orleans to visit you will be safe, but you will be entering a city on edge.
As 2005 unfolded the murder rate was ten times the
national average and two to four times greater than the rates in even the most
violent comparable cities. It was gang, poverty, and drug related and heavily black on black. Crime was wiped out by the evacuation after the storm but as people returned it came back in several old ways and a few new ones. In 2007 it was worse than ever, but exactly the same.
Other violent crime rates although higher than
the national averages, were lower than the rates in comparable cities.Crime maps of Orleans showed a heavy concentration of murders around the
public housing projects. Curiously property crime rates except auto theft were much
lower than the rates in comparable cities although still higher than the national average (why? is this a reporting problem or actual phenomenon?).
Jefferson rates matched the national averages in all
categories except murder where Jefferson's rate was nearly 50% above the national
average. (Jefferson seem to be catching some spill-over from Orleans) St.
Tammany rates were1/2 of the national averages and totally consistent with its rural/suburban composition.
Louisiana as a whole (including Orleans) exceeds national averages
slightly except in murders where it more than doubles the national
average. Louisiana excluding Orleans still exceeds the national averages in
murders, rapes, assaults, thefts and burglaries but by much slimmer
margins.
2003
| National
per 500,000 | Louisiana
per 500,000
| La excl Orleans per 500,000
|
Orleans
485,000
| Jefferson
455,000
| StTammany
191,000
| Atlanta
431,000
|
Cleveland
468,000
|
Murder
| 28
| 65
| 39
|
274
| 41
| 5
| 149
|
73
|
Rape
| 161
| 205
| 204
|
213
| 131
| 28
| 281
|
646
|
Robbery
| 683
| 786
| 625
|
2,071
| 692
| 39
| 3,701
|
3,167
|
Assault
| 1,455
| 2,175
| 2,187
|
2,038
| 1,440
| 300
| 4,360
|
2,314
|
Burglary
| 3,656
| 4,990
| 5,000
|
4,897
| 3,382
| 765
| 8,065
|
8,048
|
Theft
| 11,830
| 14,547
| 14,625
|
12,726
| 11,470
| 1,832
| 22,931
|
12,832
|
Car Theft
| 2,105
| 2,211
| 1,785
|
6,872
| 2,213
| 266
| 7,235
|
5,198
|
Population
| 270,000,000
| 4,496,334
| 4,000,000
|
485,000
| 455,000
| 191,000
| 431,000
|
468,000
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Some sociologist could probably explain these phenomena. However,
there appears to be a lack of regard for human
life in an impoverished, largely uneducated and growingly desperate
segment of the New Orleans population.
Drugs appear to be a significant
factor both in their impact on users and even more so on their ability
to create an underground alternative lifestyle outside normal morality.
Crime reporting problems are also likely in the presence of the
underground drug culture. Murders are hard to ignore, but many other
crimes may not be reported if the individuals involved are outside
normal society.
ex-Chief Eddie Compass of NOPD had an interesting theory regarding
murders in New Orleans. Often asked to explain the increase in murders
in the city, he hypothesized that closing several public housing
projects was causing a redistribution of the population. By moving into
areas and schools that they hadn't lived in before, they disturbed the
equilibrium. The spike in crime took place as gangs fought for
their turf.
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