"jj" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote:
It's high, Ed, but when did it become # 1?
I think it was around 2004 or 2005.
Those are the CQ Press rankings, based on where a state stands on a
variety
of violant crime stats:
"The Safest and Most Dangerous State rankings are determined using rates
for
six crime categories -- murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary,
robbery,
and motor vehicle theft -- by calculating a state's position relative to
the
national average for each category. Crime categories are weighted equally,
so that state comparisons are based purely on how states performed against
the national average. The weighted, aggregate scores are totaled, and a
state is assigned a final score. The farther below the national average a
state's crime rate is, the safer it ranks; the farther above the national
average, the more dangerous."
The M-Q/CQ Press rankings are used in a range of fields. I've checked them
against the FBI's UCR stats in the past, and they're accurate
representations of what they say they are.
http://www.cqpress.com/product/Crime...ings-2008.html
I don't doubt that there is a lot of crime in this state (I've been in
Vegas since 1998) and that it is primarily due to Vegas in the South.
I would speculate that there are also some fairly skewed distributions
aka some quite safe areas and some very, very unsafe areas. So by and
large if you stick to the safe areas, you don't notice. :-)
Right. Like other states with thin populations punctuated by a few large
towns and cities, Nevada's by-county crime rate varies enormously.
I don't recommend downloading this 13 MB, 315-page mess, but if you're
interested (page 24, etc.):
http://nvrepository.state.nv.us/ucr/...imeJustice.pdf
I lived in Cali and Mass before NV and I like that the gun laws are
"liberal" :-) here. I kick myself for not picking up a $2000 full
auto Vector Uzi about 10 years ago.
Personally I would correlate a high crime rate more to lack of
educational attainment/opportunities rather than "liberal" :-) gun
laws.
But that doesn't help with Las Vegas, which has an enormously high violent
crime rate. And there are counties in the South with low crime rates and low
education levels combined with severe poverty.
There's no single correlation. That's what makes it so frustrating to
analyze.
Look and Finland and Switzerland - lots of guns (admittedly
highly regulated) in the general population yet very low crime. Both
are wealthy, well-educated countries. (I would also assume highly
"mono-racial") Look at Colombia and Peru - very tough gun laws yet
very high crime rates. These countries are not rich, only the upper
class is well-educated (superbly actually) and also have to contend
with the white/black skin thing.
Even with the cultural issues, be wary of oversimplifying it. I lived in
Switzerland for a year and I'd attribute it more to social rigidity --
which, of course, does relate to the other things you mention.
Not surprisingly, NV also ranks pretty low, like 1-3 from the bottom,
in educational rankings as well. Parents will protest if band or
sports gets funding cuts but math/science don't get a peep or a bake
sale.
It's a state with very strange demographics. I brought it up mostly as a
jibe, and I didn't expect we'd get into a sociological analysis. d8-)
A closing comment on the gun thing - 10 years ago in Vegas it was not
surprising to see televised news segments of a local newscaster
(female even!) down at the range squeezing off some rounds. Back then
if there was a "child had an accidental discharge with parental gun"
incident the newscaster would say something like "parents be smart and
keep those guns locked up!" and I would cheer *LOUDLY* and send nice
emails to the station. Nowadays it is more "conservative" :-) and not
as pro-gun.
JJ, a gun loving, Obama loving=Palin hating, highly educated
liberalish but actually libertarian leaning (too bad so many
libertarian candidates are loons) guy.