Don't Shoot the Writer

Yesterday, I wrote about Lubbock, Texas, which posted a 100+ murder clearance rate for 2010 (they also solved three cold cases) and has one of the lowest murder rates in the country.  Today, I came across a story about Chicago, which is claiming a 5% drop in its 2010 murder rate. This would be the lowest  rate of homicides in almost half a century.  How have they done it?  Well, the article claims they mis-classify dozens of potential homicides as “uncleared death investigations.”

Read more at: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/05/20/2-investigators-are-murder-statistics-being-watered-down/

Here’s another link that may be of interest. http://homicides.redeyechicago.com/blog/page/2/

The 2011 Census Bureau Statistical Abstract is out.  There’s a lot of meat here.  The latest year’s numbers are for 2007  and 2008 and show an up and down pattern in murders since 1997.  We are told by other well-documented sources that homicides for 2010 are generally down.  The document examines crime in 16 different reports; 12 include murder.  There is also a section on law enforcement and the courts, which contains reports on criminal victimization and arrests.

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons/crimes_and_crime_rates.html