Posted on 01/02/2007 8:45:16 AM PST by aculeus
HOUSTON, Jan. 1 (AP) — The number of homicides last year in Houston hit a 12-year high, and the mayor attributed the rise partly to the arrival of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.
Houston had 379 homicides in 2006, up from 334 in 1995, an increase of 13 percent. It was the most since 1994, when 419 killings were reported, the police said. Nationally, the murder rate rose by 1.4 percent last year, according to figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mayor Bill White pointed to hurricane evacuees from New Orleans as one reason for the increase.
“We did have a surge in population from a city where the homicide rate is eight times the national average,” Mr. White said.
Houston’s population increased by 148,000 people in 2006, many of those evacuees, according to the city’s planning department.
Some analysts disagreed with Mr. White’s characterization, pointing to national trends indicating rising rates of violent crime. “It’s not as if Houston’s unique,” said James P. Lynch, a criminology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “There are other cities experiencing this.”
Robert M. Stein, a social sciences professor at Rice University, said the increase had several components. “A national trend we can’t avoid,” Professor Stein said. “We had a population growth, and any population growth will drive up crime rates. And we had an idiosyncratic, rare event — the Katrina evacuees.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Is anyone accusing the Mayor of racism?
How long do you figure the politicians down there are going to blame that storm for all the area's ills?
Until they're out of office and the problem becomes someone else's.
We must pull out of Houston. /sarcasm
I'm surprised the NY Times didn't find some professor to also say that this was more proof that the death penalty doesn't stop murder.
No good deed go unpunished...
Isn't that the truth! We didn't ask for them to stay and become permanent welfare recipients. The idea was to give them a place to stay until the aid agencies, insurance companies, relatives, etc. were able to get them some assistance. Bill White should have his butt kicked all the way to New Orleans. Hope the taxpayers of Houston remember this come election time.
I no longer work in the West Chase area after being confronted in a private parking garage by a man wanting money. It scared the living daylights out of me. The company was wanting us to work overtime, late into the night, but not willing to pay for security for us. So I quit. I'm living and working outside the Houston city limits, but you can bet that even the areas outside the city are having some of the same problems.
Actually, there are at least two segments that account for most of the crime I hear about.
How many victims? MSM, we need to know the total number for the USA for the year of 2006!
Aren't they keeping tallies on our national homicides like the KIAs in the mideast?
I'm planning on it. Democrat insurgents have looted the budget for some billionaire business partners.
Criminals run free while the nannystaters "criminalize" the non-violent citizens.
I hope Texans remember this when Bill White runs for Senate.
Or Governor.
Well, if he runs with an "R" by his name, (as anyone who actually wants to win statewide in Texas must do), he'll get the full support of many freepers, who look no further than party affiliation, and are uninterested in petty details like "competence".
They got a free ride to another state that was giving them a "free ride" with a clean slate. They'll hang on there like a tick!
Houston won't get rid of them until the free money/food/rent/etc spigot runs dry, and even then they'll hang on with a death grip hoping they'll get something else free to make them leave.
dogs...fleas
"We had a population growth, and any population growth will drive up crime rates."
I'd like to see the reasoning behind that. The rate should stay the same unless the increase in population growth is coming from a source that has a concentration of criminality. Population growth from childbirth would not cause this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.