America's Safest and Most Dangerous Cities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Each year, the FBI publishes an annual statistical publication under the name Crime in the United States, as part of its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program.[1] Based on this data, America's Safest and Most Dangerous Cities is a ranking issued annually by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc. The ranking, and the "award" for safest and most dangerous cities, is issued as part of the company's annual publication City Crime Rankings, described by the publisher as "easy-to-understand crime comparisons for cities and metro areas throughout the United States."[2] From 1995 through 2006, City Crime Rankings was published by Lawrence, Kansas-based Morgan Quitno Press. The publisher was acquired in June 2007 by CQ Press[3] The 14th annual edition of City Crime Rankings was published in November 2007, and contains over 100 tables and figures detailing crime trends in cities and metropolitan areas across America.

The rankings are based upon statistics submitted by cities to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which are then published by the FBI online. The FBI web site labels the data "for researchers" and makes site users click through a pop-up message warning against the potential misuse of the data.

The pop-up window states "Each year when Crime in the United States is published, some entities use reported figures to compile rankings of cities and counties. These rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state, or region. Consequently, they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents. Valid assessments are possible only with careful study and analysis of the range of unique conditions affecting each local law enforcement jurisdiction. The data user is, therefore, cautioned against comparing statistical data of individual reporting units from cities, metropolitan areas, states, or colleges or universities solely on the basis of their population coverage or student enrollment."[4]

The ranking has been criticized by several organizations, including The American Society of Criminology (ASC), Criminal Justice Journalists, and The United States Conference of Mayors as well as the FBI.

The executive board of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) approved a resolution opposing the development of city crime rankings from FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCRs). The resolution states the rankings "represent an irresponsible misuse of the data and do groundless harm to many communities" and "work against a key goal of our society, which is a better understanding of crime-related issues by both scientists and the public."[5]

The U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a press releases criticizing the rankings, saying they were "distorted and damaging to cities' reputations." [6]

On November 19, 2007, CQ Press publisher John A. Jenkins issues a statement entitled "Why CQ Press Publishes City Crime Rankings: A Response to the Critics".[7] While Jenkins concedes that "crime-ranking information contains many variables and that all must be considered carefully," he points out that "we take very seriously our responsibility to keep Americans informed -- even if the news is not good. So we publish such data, even if it causes cities and officials to feel aggrieved.

Also on November 19, 2007 CQ Press publisher John A. Jenkins and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings debated the validity of the rankings on CNN Newsroom with co-anchor Don Lemon.[8] Bully-Cummings raised the arguments of the study's critics, including inappropriate manipulation and misrepresentation of the FBI data. Jenkins countered that CQ Press was simply "reporting the official government, FBI statistics that we have" and suggested CQ Press is "a journalistic organization ... doing what is a time-honered tradition of a journalists ... which is presenting data fairly and factually." Lemon read a statement from Rob Casey, who heads the FBI section that publishes the Uniform Crime Report that the rankings are based upon, who said "You're not comparing apples and oranges, your are comparing watermelons and grapes. These rough rankings provide no insight into the many variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state or region. Consequently they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions adversely affecting communities and their residents."

In an Op Ed on November 29, Richard Rosenfeld, Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, challenged the validity of the rankings. One of Rosenfeld's points is that "in all cities, serious crime is disproportionately concentrated in a handful of high-risk neighborhoods. Differences in crime rates are far greater within cities than between them. And the rankings give equal weight to crimes of vastly different seriousness and measurement error."[9]

The position that CQ Press is practicing journalism is a new point in the debate. The "about" section of the CQ Press Web site describes the publisher as follows: "CQ Press is your first source for information on politics, policy, and people. We are the leading publisher of books, directories, subscriptions, and Web products on American politics, federal and state government, American institutions, campaigns and elections, current events, and world affairs. Our content is known for its objectivity, breadth and depth of coverage, and high standards of journalistic and editorial excellence. CQ Press is a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc."[10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Crime in the United States 2006
  2. ^ CQ Press: PDF: City Crime Rankings, 14th Edition, Research, Report, Reports
  3. ^ http://www.cqpress.com/docs/CQ%20Press_Morgan%20Quitno%20Press.pdf
  4. ^ Caution Against Ranking
  5. ^ Criminologists Condemn City Crime Rankings
  6. ^ The U.S. Conference of Mayors Challenges City Crime Rankings
  7. ^ CQ Press: Why Publish Crime Rankings
  8. ^ Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com
  9. ^ Why city crime rankings offer a misleading picture - Opinion - USATODAY.com
  10. ^ About CQ Press. Retrieved on 2007-12-14.

[edit] External links

 The external links in this article may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines.
Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.