NEW YORK, Jan. 1, 2008

New Orleans Murder Rate Gets Even Worse

Homicides Up In Big Easy, D.C. In 2007 But NYC On Track To Record Fewest Murders In 44 Years

  • New Orleans has been submerged by a crime wave ever since the waters of Hurricane Katrina receded. Photo

    New Orleans has been submerged by a crime wave ever since the waters of Hurricane Katrina receded.  (CBS)

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(AP)  New York City could look back on 2007 as the year it recorded the lowest number of homicides in more than 40 years, while the number of murders increased in Washington, D.C., after years of decline.

New Orleans - the bloodiest city in the country in 2006 - got even bloodier in 2007, with 209 murders. That was 48 more than in 2006, when its 161 homicides put its murder rate far ahead of even such deadly cities as Gary, Indiana, and Detroit.

New Orleans population is currently thought to be 295,450, which would mean a rate of about 71 per 100,000 people. By comparison, Washington's homicide rate was about 30 per 100,000 people, still higher than those of New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, but lower than in Baltimore and Detroit.

A preliminary tally of recorded homicides in New York was 494 as of midnight Monday, compared with 596 for all of 2006, police said. But the number could change depending on if a 2007 crime is later reclassified, they said.

The tally for 2007 is the lowest number of killings since reliable record-keeping started in 1963.

Crime has plummeted since 1990 when homicides reached an all-time high of 2,224, making the city the murder capital of the U.S.

Experts have said that the decline in homicides in New York is due to computerized tracking of crime trends and tactics, such as flooding high-crime areas with police officers.

The figure for 2007 could be changed if a death that occurred in 2007 was later determined to be a homicide. The cutoff period for that is Jan. 15, said police spokesman Paul J. Browne.

In the country's capital, however, homicides rose 7 percent in 2007 after years of decline, and police attributed the increase in part to gang fights and drugs.

The city had recorded 181 killings as of late Monday, up from a 21-year low of 169 homicides in 2006. The number of killings had been dropping since 2002. Nonfatal shootings and other gun crimes also were up, according to preliminary police data.

The increase in violence comes as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments this year on whether the capital's 31-year ban on handgun ownership violates the Constitution. The case could produce the most in-depth examination in 70 years of the right to "keep and bear arms," which is held dear by many Americans.

Citywide, about 77 percent of the year's homicide victims were killed by gunfire. More than 80 percent of the victims were black males.

Despite the increase in killings, 2007 marked the fourth consecutive year of fewer than 200 homicides in Washington. The number of killings also is far lower than the numbers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 400 people were slain annually as crack cocaine-related violence ravaged the city.




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Add a Comment See all 40 Comments
by drivelphobe January 2, 2008 12:22 AM PST
After witnessing the behaviour of the inhabitants of New Orleans, during and after, the Katrina episode, this doesn''t surprise me one bit. They appeared to be almost subhuman, wading through the water, pilfering, ransacking and looting under the guise of "survival", their manifest ignorance a glaring proof of their degeneracy.

Perhaps this is nature at work, thinning the herd, or maybe it''s just natural selection. Whatever it is, I could care less.
Reply to this comment
by beehive21-2009 January 2, 2008 12:28 AM PST
More news of man killing, it''s what humans do and have been doing from the beginning ,it will not stop,people love to kill people, anything thing they can get there hands on.
Reply to this comment
by apolloknowsa January 2, 2008 3:16 AM PST
I guess the corrupt mayor nagin is back in action.

Will the good people of n''orleans finally get rid of that corrupt politician? Please. You are not getting one more federal dollar until you do (and you have gotten hundreds of millions of dollars)

Where has my taxmoney gone? Which politician is driving a new lexus? or living in a new house while the federal money is used to buy his new silk suit.

N.O. is so freeeeking corrupt, it is unbelievable.

Vote the bums out!
Reply to this comment
by farmerbb January 2, 2008 5:43 AM PST
Statistics like these need to be shown with comparisons to those from other countries. Between 1987 and 1996, the U.S. rate (as a whole) was 8.8 per 100,000. In Canada it was 2.3, Austria 0.9, Sweden 1.8, Norway 2.5 etc. Many Swiss men are reserve army types, with a rifle at home, yet the rate in Switzerland is 2.3 per 100,000

Some of these countries have tough gun control, others have lots of guns available. What makes the U.S. so dangerous, I wonder ? The number of guns per household ?
Reply to this comment
by dsr57 January 2, 2008 5:49 AM PST
I think the amount of guns in America is what keeps it safe. I know my neighbors hate me but the fact that I have guns and they know that I''ll shot them in the face is the only reason they leave me alone. If not for that their heathen children would steal my yard gnomes. And nobody wants that...
Reply to this comment
by tigeress33-2009 January 2, 2008 5:54 AM PST
Its not the number of guns its the dumb**ses that have them. I say get a gun and protect your gnomes.
Reply to this comment
by tbweb January 2, 2008 6:40 AM PST
The root cause of this may be because when Hurricane Katrina happened everything broke down, including the criminal justice system, jails and prisons. The Jails and Prisons were emptied out, criminals were set free unintentionally and most of the Police force quit, left their jobs, it was a mess, the local government lost total control. Many child molesters set free from prison grabbed abandoned children and went off with them. It was a total breakdown. These criminal elements are committing most of these crimes, criminals who should never have been let out of jails and prisons in the first place and many of their criminals records and case evidence was destroyed in the Hurricane and subsequent flooding! Lets not forget how things were made worst by this.
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by rushlimpdrug January 2, 2008 7:17 AM PST

Katrina, katrina, katrina.
That''s the excuse we''re gonna here for the next 15 years.
Keep throwing government aid to N.O.
That''s what they live for.
Reply to this comment
by runningralph January 2, 2008 7:21 AM PST
Years ago in a county near New Orleans they elected a Chinese sheriff. A few years later he took a vacation to Taiwan. He noted that Taiwan, with 18 million residents, compared to his county, with about 1 million, Taiwan had less crime. 18 times the population, with fewer crimes commited. Think about that.
Reply to this comment
by vetsence January 2, 2008 7:31 AM PST
OK all you christians who hate the blacks and need your guns for protection, I suppose Cain was black and Abel was white. Do you know who they were?
Reply to this comment
by dsr57 January 2, 2008 7:36 AM PST
What are you talking about?
Reply to this comment
by underdogus January 2, 2008 7:48 AM PST
what da fluck?
Reply to this comment
by rushman71 January 2, 2008 8:56 AM PST
vetsence: These comments are not focusing on total hatered towards blacks. It''s the kind of society that surrounds New Orleans that has been so corrupt with their own people. After Katrina, over 200,000 people moved into the Houston area, which caused an uproar in criminal activity. Even conflicts arose in our schools between children of Houston and New Orleans. This is not pointing fingers at the black race, but towards corrupt-minded people who have the nerve to move into our city and to try to trash it into their own ways of living--ghetto style!!!
Reply to this comment
by quetzal666 January 2, 2008 9:09 AM PST
I for one would love to see new orleans get back to its pre katrina population.....
Reply to this comment
by barbaraf4 January 2, 2008 9:11 AM PST
"I suppose Cain was black and Abel was white. Do you know who they were?" Posted by vetsence

Yes, but work with me here, because it has been a long time since Bible school: Cain and Abel were Adam''s sons from his second marriage (to Eve). We know it was his second, because the union with Lillith was his first marriage.

Anyway, Cain killed Abel and God bannished him East of Eden to the land of Nod, where he married and prospered. There is no satisfactory explanation in the Bible for where the civilizations East of Eden came from.
Reply to this comment
by ianlou January 2, 2008 9:27 AM PST
Gee, what can be done about New Orleans?
So far we have done nothing and we''re fresh out of ideas.
Reply to this comment
by downsteamjim January 2, 2008 9:30 AM PST
Now you see why the all caring Howard Dean didn''t want any of the unfortunate Katrina refuges to be sent to his lovely state. Counties are called parishes in Louisiana. Orleans parish refugee students also caused problems in local La schools. One teenager from New Orleans poured gasoline on a young boy and lite him up. Luckily the boy survived and was able to return to school in a few months.
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by drivelphobe January 2, 2008 9:32 AM PST
rushman71...Your post is right on. People can''t wait to assign a racist tag on almost any comment. This isn''t anti blacks. It just happens that blacks make up a large proportion of the population in New Orleans and as people, they are failures, not as blacks.
Reply to this comment
by downsteamjim January 2, 2008 9:51 AM PST
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day and you keep him voting for you so he can get free fish. Teach a man to fish, he feds himself, votes his own way, turns conservative, wants to keep his evil profits, and destroys the envirnoment. A modern democrat parable.
Reply to this comment
by sasi1-2009 January 2, 2008 9:55 AM PST
Shame Katrina didn''t make a clean sweep of this place!
Reply to this comment
by Krazcarl January 2, 2008 10:04 AM PST
We''ve all suffered tragedity but that does not give you permission to abuse others were back to the point of having to go back to stringing folks up it was the only thing that has ever worked.
Reply to this comment
by marcodele January 2, 2008 10:28 AM PST
sasi1: Only an ignorant person would make such an ignorant statement: "Its a shame Katrina didn''t make a clean sweep of this place."

Over 2,000 people died horrible deaths, thousands of animals suffered and died, and hundreds of thousands of decent hard working people suffered financial breakdowns.

Perhaps your statement will come back to haunt you sooner than you think. What goes around, comes around.
Reply to this comment
by mwhc1 January 2, 2008 10:38 AM PST
To fix this whole mess we just need to tell Bush that New Orleans is part of Iraq... and they will get $20 billion to fix things up. and they''ll get that money in about a week.
Reply to this comment
by usayesterday January 2, 2008 11:19 AM PST
The people of New Orleans re-elected Mayor Ray (Sunken School Bus) Nagin for a second term.

He has really performed for them, hasn''t he!
Reply to this comment
by keithle1 January 2, 2008 11:19 AM PST
Remove all Black men from the equation & the homicide rate in all major cities in USA goes way down. Majority of homicide in cities is related to drug trade. Young black men killing other black men.

You may not like to hear that or think it''s racist but it''s the truth. Look it up.
Reply to this comment
by takimbo-2009 January 2, 2008 11:20 AM PST
The government response to Katrina has made New Orleans little more that a third world country (without the aid).

Reply to this comment
by usayesterday January 2, 2008 11:24 AM PST
There are a number of rappers who tell their minions not to cooperate with the police when they witness a crime (called "snitchen" among the illiterates).

So crimes go unsolved, and the perpetrators go free to likely commit other crimes (murders) continuously, because no one wants to "snitch" on them.

Should we feel sorry for the people of New Orleans (and other cities) who refuse to cooperate with the police during a murder investigation?

No.
Reply to this comment
by downsteamjim January 2, 2008 11:43 AM PST
The snitch business went on in the 50s & 60s. At the time it was central to the KKK. The color has changed but the evil is still the same.
Reply to this comment
by gunownerdan January 2, 2008 11:49 AM PST
Nothing causes more crime and violence than giving drug gangs and drug dealers a monopoly on billions of dollars in illegal drug profits thanks to prohibition.
www.leap.cc
Reply to this comment
by gopack443 January 2, 2008 11:49 AM PST
Why did these people want to move back after the hurricane? The crime rate was very high there before, now with even fewer jobs available and more people on welfare what do they expect!
New Orleans is still in a hurricane zone and if the next one is a direct hit it will be even worse than the last. Of course the good thing about hurricanes is you know there coming A WEEK AHEAD OF TIME! maybe next time the people of New Orleans won''t just sit on there a$$''$ waiting for the government to take care of there every need!
Reply to this comment
by downsteamjim January 2, 2008 11:59 AM PST
After Katrina there was a zillion jobs. Businesses had to close early because they couldn''t find help. I live about 150 miles NW of NOLA and people would come by asking for workers. Guess what? Lots of illegal aliens stepped in to do the clean up. P.S. New Orleans is still a great place to visit. Like Baghdad, stay in the green zone [the old town near the Mississippi]. Remember: North [lake side] of I10 flack jacket required.
Reply to this comment
by badfish911 January 2, 2008 12:26 PM PST
what DO YOU EXPECT FROM VIOLENT NEGROS??
Reply to this comment
by vhall7 January 2, 2008 12:29 PM PST
I thought Brad Pitt and his girlfriend were there to save the city. No worries folks, his pink houses will save the day.
Reply to this comment
by rushlimpdrug January 2, 2008 12:42 PM PST

Where''s Al Sharpthong and Jesse Jackscum?
Reply to this comment
by aggiekat2004 January 2, 2008 2:07 PM PST
In College Station, a small Texas college town, a place was provided on the Texas A&M campus for displaced New Orleans folks to stay. They were given beds, food, and aid. However, they chose to raise bloody he11 because they were not allowed to smoke in Reed Arena (where they were staying). Texas A&M doesn''t allow smoking in ANY building on campus. However, these good-for-nothing idiots that were given generous aid chose to cry "discrimination" because they weren''t allowed to smoke! Even though they were given TVs, outdoor tents to keep them out of the elements while smoking...they chose to play the "race" card.

They also used their government-issued debit cards in various places around Texas to buy big-screen TVs and extravagant "bling."

This is what our tax dollars go for...
Reply to this comment
by frankbowers January 2, 2008 2:52 PM PST
I really hope it is the illegal mexicans and hispanic and not the poor black killing and each other. The best of good byes from Austin, TX and Frank Bowers.
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by zootallures2 January 2, 2008 4:01 PM PST
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by kattyclayz January 2, 2008 4:09 PM PST
They chose to live there, and as stated by aggiekat2004, after the hurricane A&M gave them shelter. BTW, same town, love it in College Station! If they want to go back to what was messed up and horrible BEFORE the hurricane and now they can''t get their *** together, well then just let em all kill themselves and get it over with. I''m sure once their done, and we can get the bodies and wreck of houses cleaned up that they''ll leave, it''ll make a GREAT real estate investment. ^_^
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by vetsence January 2, 2008 11:51 PM PST

And HE said unto them, depart from me, I never knew you.
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by bb19631 January 3, 2008 5:04 PM PST
Stop blaming everything on Hurricane Katrina, it''s just an excuse to use. That state has always been that way. Murder, crimes they obviously have no self respect for themselves or anyone else. It''s a give me -give me , what''s in it for me state.
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