violent crime

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Murder-Suicide Inspires First-of-Its-Kind US Law

It enables GPS monitoring of violent offenders, who foot the bill

(Newser) - A first-of-its-kind US law allows authorities in Tennessee to track violent domestic offenders with GPS monitoring. The law that went into effect Monday stems from the 2021 murders of Marie Varsos and her mother Debbie Sisco. Varsos had been staying with Sisco near Nashville after her estranged husband, Shaun Varsos,...

FBI: Violent Crime Is Down, Property Crime Is Up

Violence has receded to pre-pandemic levels, according to agency's annual reports

(Newser) - Violent crime across the US decreased last year—dropping to about the same level as before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—but property crimes rose substantially, according to data in the FBI's annual crime report released Monday. The report comes with an asterisk: Some law enforcement agencies failed...

Released Early, Felon Cut Out Woman's Heart, Cooked It: Cops

Lawrence Paul Anderson accused of killing 3 in Oklahoma, including 4-year-old girl

(Newser) - A repeat felon released early from prison in January has admitted to cutting out the heart of a neighbor before authorities say he killed the uncle and aunt he'd been staying with, along with that couple's 4-year-old granddaughter. Only the aunt survived. This comes from a request for...

NYC Man Killed in $1 Christmas Eve Robbery

60-year-old man was defending husband against 6 men

(Newser) - Juan Fresnada was walking in the Bronx with his husband, Bayron Caceras, on Christmas Eve when six men approached and demanded money. When the pair refused, ABC News reports that the men attacked, knocking Fresnada to the ground and beating him badly before making off with all of one dollar....

Entire City to Undergo Exorcism via Helicopter

Move comes after girl's murder in Buenaventura, Colombia

(Newser) - A Colombian port city plagued by violent crime is about to get an exorcism. The bishop of Buenaventura, Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo Montoya, will hop in a helicopter Sunday in order to sprinkle holy water over the streets while reciting a prayer meant to expel demonic spirits. In...

Suspects Got Name of Witness by Mistake. They Killed Him

David Henderson had helped police solve a robbery

(Newser) - David Henderson stepped forward to help Denver police solve a crime—the 2016 robbery of a marijuana dispensary. The mechanic told police he'd seen two people whose cars he'd worked on with weapons and marijuana after the robbery. That got him shot 10 times after court documents identifying...

He Targeted Anyone 'Darker Than a Brown Paper Bag'

Roland Bourgeois Jr. gets 10 years for racially motivated attack after Hurricane Katrina

(Newser) - A New Orleans man is finally doing time almost 14 years after shooting three black men evacuating the region in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Roland Bourgeois Jr. fired a shotgun at the young men, who were injured, because they were black and entered his Algiers Point neighborhood bordering the...

5 Most, Least Violent States
5 Most, Least
Violent States

5 Most, Least Violent States

Louisiana and Maine are on opposite ends

(Newser) - The most violent US states tend to be in the South. They also tend to have the least restrictive gun laws in the country. That's according to 24/7 Wall St. , which determined the most and least violent of all 50 states based on the rate of murder, other violent...

The Most Dangerous City, State May Surprise You

Analysis finds the most violent city in every state

(Newser) - The rate of violent crime in the US has been steadily declining and is about half of what it was in 1991 when it peaked at 758 crimes for every 100,000 people. But that may be scant consolation for people living in the cities that have not benefited from...

'Murder Capital of America' Now as Deadly as Wyoming

NYC sees killings hit record low, perhaps in part due to community policing

(Newser) - Even after two terrorist attacks and a driver's deadly rampage through Times Square , New York City is on track to smash its modern-era low for homicides in a year. Through Dec. 17, the city of 8.5 million people, once America's murder capital, had recorded 278 killings. That...

10 Most Violent Cities in US
10 Most Violent
Cities in US

10 Most Violent Cities in US

Detroit tops the list

(Newser) - There were 1.2 million violent crimes committed in the US in 2016, the FBI reported Monday. It was a 4.1% increase from 2015 and the second year in a row crime rates have risen. On average, there were 386 violent crimes for every 100,000 US residents. But...

Blip or Trend? Violent Crime Spikes for 2nd Straight Year

Attorney General Sessions says trend cannot continue

(Newser) - Violent crime in America rose for the second straight year in 2016, but it remained near historically low levels, according to FBI data released Monday. The numbers were driven by a spike in killings in some major cities, per the AP . Violent crimes such as shootings and robberies rose 4....

10 Cities Where Crime Is Rising Fastest

Monroe, La., is top: 24/7 Wall St.

(Newser) - You might want to be a bit extra vigilant when visiting these US cities, according to 24/7 Wall St . The site determined the metropolitan areas with the fastest-rising crime based on differences in violent crime rates from 2011 to 2015. Household income, employment, education, and poverty rates were also considered....

Pot Arrests in US Outnumber Violent Crime Arrests

There's a drug arrest every 25 seconds

(Newser) - Law enforcement agencies made more arrests for marijuana possession last year than for all violent crimes combined, despite decriminalization and outright legalization in some states, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch and the ACLU. The report is harshly critical of drug policies that have 137,000 Americans...

10 Most Dangerous Cities in US
10 Most Dangerous Cities in US

10 Most Dangerous Cities in US

St. Louis is No. 1

(Newser) - The Census Bureau reported Monday that incidents of violent crime—and murders in particular—were up around the US, but which cities are worst? Here are the top 10, on a per-capita basis, via 24/7 Wall Street .
  1. St. Louis, Missouri: 1,817 violent crimes per 100,000 people, with 188
...

FBI: Murders Up 11% in 2015—but There's Context

Stats for violent crime, including rapes and robberies, still below rates from 20 years ago

(Newser) - The number of murders in the US rose 11% last year from 2014, while the number of violent crimes saw a modest increase of 4% after two years of decline, per an FBI press release . Rapes rose 6.3%, aggravated assaults increased 4.6%, and robberies rose by 1.4%...

Crime Spiking Because Cops Don't Want to Go Viral: FBI Chief

So-called 'Ferguson effect' is making police shy away from suspects: James Comey

(Newser) - James Comey doesn't have quantitative proof, but the FBI director has a hunch as to why there's been an uptick in violent crimes in some urban areas. The "viral video effect" is something he's used in the past to explain the recent spurt of seemingly less-aggressive...

6 Cities With Fastest-Rising Crime Rates

San Luis Obispo tops the list, with crimes up 58%

(Newser) - Is there something in the air in San Luis Obispo? The number of violent crimes including rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, and murders, spiked 58% in the metropolitan area from 2010 to 2014, making it home to the fastest-rising crime rate of any US city. Interestingly, the crime rate 30 miles...

The 10 Least Violent States
 The 10 Least Violent States 

The 10 Least Violent States

Vermont is the easy winner

(Newser) - We've learned that Alaska is the state with the highest rate of violent crime, but which state has the lowest? Look about 4,000 miles to the east: Vermont. The latter has 99.3 incidents per 100,000 residents, well below the national average of 366, reports 24/7 Wall...

Right-to-Carry Laws Linked to Violent Crime

Stanford study conflicts with previous statistical breakdowns

(Newser) - For years, gun-rights advocates cited a 1997 paper 's claim that "allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes." The National Research Council came out with its own take in 2004, saying there was "no credible evidence that 'right-to-carry' laws … either decrease or...

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