Are many people murdered where you live?

[1-Old-Man]

I was very much surprised, about a year ago, to learn that there had only been one murder in the county* I live in during the last seven years. Granted, this a a rural county with a relatively small (33,250) population, but that number seems delightfully low to me, at least in comparison to what I had expected.

So I got to wondering, how is it (really) elsewhere? I ask because if television, radio, and newspapers are to be believed we are a nation soaked in blood where no community is left unscathed. But maybe it just ain't so. What say you?




* Preston County, WV

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Not where I live but where I work, yes.

[premium]

2. I can't even remember the last time my town had a murder. nt.

[L0oniX]

3. Two blocks away. n/t

[The Straight Story]

4. Well

There are 313 million people in the US, 13,000 murders in 2010.

3,143 counties and county-equivalents.

Spreading it all out and looking at the percent of people who were murdered in the US overall is....interesting.

[Katashi_itto]

5. Lots. Where I live the murder rate is equal to Guatemala. I live in New Orleans

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/05/shell_shocked_documentary_exam.html

[Ohio Joe]

6. I live in Aurora Colorado...

Yes.

[KamaAina]

7. Relatively speaking, not that many -- so far

but the situation is deteriorating. San Jose's title as "America's Safest Large City" is but a distant memory, thanks to a squabble between our DINO mayor and the police union over benefits. The mayor won't lift a finger to raise taxes until he extorts concessions from the police union. He even went over their heads by getting a (most likely illegal) ballot measure passed. And so, he's laid off way too many cops? Result? Crime's up. Way up. 21 homcidies so far this year -- with four coming just since Sunday.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. tis very rare in my rural county, area.

Getting an increase in drug related shootings, tho, which result in wounding more than death.
Meth has moved into the area.
DUIs and domestic violence are the majority of the crime reports in the newspaper, with copper/metal theft close second.

City pop. is 6,000
County about 27,000

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. Hardly a day goes by without at least one. Las Vegas. n/t

[kestrel91316]

10. San Fernando Valley of SoCal - we do have some gang violence, but that is way down in recent years.

Non-gang-related killings are uncommon - almost certainly less than a dozen a year in an area with 1-2 million people (depending on how much you believe the census, which grossly undercounts undocumented Hispanics.

[MadrasT]

11. About one a year where I live

But I work in Philadelphia and that is a whole 'nother kettle of fish

[Motown_Johnny]

12. If you really want to know....

....then try this link: http://www.mipha.org/epi/conf2012/PoverentoHomicide.pdf

[pscot]

13. I live in a semi-rural county, population 70,000

I think we've had 4 in about 10 years, 3 bizarre domestic murders and one murder conspiracy, also pretty wierd, when you think about it. Plus the barefoot bandit for comic relief.

[CokeMachine]

14. Not many here. Pop ~56,000

Murders in Petaluma by Year
1999 0
2000 1
2001 1
2002 2
2003 1
2004 0
2005 0
2006 2
2007 1
2008 0
2009 0
2010 1
2011 0

[tularetom]

15. I can only remember four and we've been here 25 years

Of course those four were all at the same time by the same guy and were on the national news.

Because they happened in Yosemite.

[One_Life_To_Give]

16. One nine years ago

For the town Population 40,000
1 murder in 2004
18 violent crimes per year

[RebelOne]

17. I live in Cherokee County, GA, just northwest of Atlanta.

But even though there are over 214,000 residents here, there are rarely any murders. Atlanta is a different story. There are usually 2 to 3 murders there every day.

[newfie11]

18. In my county only 2 in 7 years

That I am aware of.
Scottsbluff CO, NE

[hunter]

19. I could do a waliking tour of murder sites.

Sometimes the victims' families and friends build little memorials with photographs, flowers, etc.

Mostly it's gang related, but they don't always shoot straight.

We're not so bad as Oakland or Stockton.

When we lived in a worse part of town our next door neighbor's son had been killed in a drug deal gone wrong.

[Throd]

20. About one murder every other year.

[NMDemDist2]

21. we get about 2 a year in our comparably sized town

usually one drug related and, sadly, one of domestic violence (that is also usually drug related)

town is around 26,000 people

[Marrah_G]

22. Providence RI

4 murders so far this year, last year there were two.

Just moved from Salem, MA where there has been one murder since 1999 from what I could find.

[surrealAmerican]

23. If you're going by county, yes.

I live just outside Chicago.

There are at least a few murders in my town every year too.

[hack89]

24. Two murders in 13 years

Aquidneck Island in RI - pop approximately 50,000

[femmocrat]

25. We are so small that we are not listed by the state police.

But in 2011 there were 6 murders in the entire county. This is a large suburban/rural county outside of Pittsburgh.

The City of Pittsburgh has a lot of gun violence. It seems like someone is shot every day (on the local news). I didn't look up the stats though.

[hack89]

26. We have cut our murder rate in half over the past several decades.

Nancy Grace aside, all violent crime in America has seen historic declines since the 1980's.

[SamKnause]

27. Murders

No.

2 last year.

[Chisox08]

28. Last year it was 506

This year it 118 according to City of Chicago data. This is one of the main reasons behind the outrage over school closings.

[Chan790]

29. I live in suburban Maryland, less than 1000ft. from the DC border.

If you mean "near me", that number is ironically higher than "where I live" as "near me" includes much of NW DC and "where I live" is Silver Spring, Maryland, Montgomery County. (We're using county numbers as most of MontCo does not have municipal borders.)

By the lower of those two numbers we average more than 4.5x-per-month (26 thus far in 2013) what you've had in the past 7 years. Of course, my county is a bit under 30x the size of your county.

If you want to go by DC...as I basically live in DC for all intents and purposes...I can't find 2013 to-date numbers but there were 92 homicides in 2012...the lowest in 50 years. Edit: Most of those occurred in the part of DC furthest from me: Ward 8...but Ward 8 is still closer by-distance than the county seat in Rockville.

[etherealtruth]

30. I live in metro Detroit

'Nuff said

[sorefeet]

31. Rural Montana last week

A 49 year old bar owner shot his 22 year old girl friend in the face with a 410, then he did a suicide by cop a couple hours later. The community is in shock. Lots of suicides but no murders in the 30 years I have lived here, except this one.

[PDJane]

32. Forty-eight last year. I live in Toronto, however.

Toronto proper has about 2.5 million people, give or take...mostly give. The suburbs add another couple of million. For a population centre as large as this one is, that's pretty safe. Year to date, it's been 23 this year,.

If you consider that those rates are for the GTA, then no, it's not outrageous. This covers an area of 7,125 square kilometers, or 2,751 square miles.

[sarisataka]

33. Nope, no one

has been murdered on my property.
The city had 16 in 2010 with a pop of ~300,000

[shanti]

34. 5 so far this year

in my suburban city of 65,000. that's fairly high, i believe.

[gejohnston]

35. none here, that I hear of.

of course, there are those who murder minds with meth. We have too many of those.

[RC]

36. Only 34 murders so far in Kansas City MO.

Summer is coming, though.

http://homicide.kansascity.com/

Kansas City’s homicide rate dropped in 2012
With Kansas City’s per-capita homicide rate still high, police embrace new approach.
January 2
By MARK MORRIS and CHRISTINE VENDEL
The Kansas City Star

As a crude measure of public safety, Kansas City’s 2012 homicide statistics suggest the community is no more or less lethal than in any sustained period since 2000.

HOMICIDE KC
Kansas City closed the year with 108 homicides — six fewer than in 2011 but two more than 2010.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/02/3990551/kansas-citys-homicide-rate-dropped.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/02/3990551/kansas-citys-homicide-rate-dropped.html

[billh58]

37. From the Hawaii State "Crime in Hawaii"

Twenty-one murders were reported statewide in 2011. Males comprised 71.0% of the murder victims and 96.0% of the alleged offenders. The breakdown for the relationship between victims and offenders in 2011 includes: acquaintance, 40.9% (9); stranger, 27.3% (6); immediate family, 22.7% (5); and girlfriend/boyfriend, 9.1% (2).

Of the 3,113 murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults reported statewide during 2011, 49.5% were committed using strongarm weapons (i.e., hands, fists, and feet); 24.7% with “other” or unknown weapons; 17.2% with knives or other edged weapons; and 8.6% with firearms.

I live on Maui, and the we had two murders in 2011, which was the average for the past ten years. Hawaii has the lowest gun death rate in the nation.

http://ag.hawaii.gov/cpja/files/2013/01/Crime_in_Hawaii_2011.pdf

[bike man]

38. no nt