Violent crime is reported to be on the decline across the country. St. Louis is among the cities said to be benefitting from this trend. A reason for why this may be occurring isn’t provided by the source of the information.
Perhaps it’s because the social outcry against violent crime has led lawmakers to step up the penalties for convictions of such crimes. It might also be that prosecutors and the courts focus greater attention on stemming violent crimes over others. Regardless of the reason, what is consistent is that anyone who finds himself or herself charged with a serious violent crime needs the help of an experienced attorney to obtain the best possible outcome of the case.
It must be noted that the data supporting the downward movement in violent crime doesn’t take into consideration events that have occurred within the past year. No, the information from the FBI says that violent crime slid 4.4 percent from 2012 to 2013. That’s the latest year for which information is available. At the same time, property crimes were estimated to be down 4.1 percent for that time frame.
On an additional positive note, researchers at Law Street Media cite the FBI figures as a reason for dropping St. Louis down a notch in the rankings of “most dangerous” U.S. cities. In 2011, St. Louis ranked No. 2. In 2012 it was ranked No. 3. Now it’s No. 4.
The standing is calculated by taking the total number of FBI-reported violent crimes, divided by a city’s population and then multiplied by 100,000. Based on that formula, St. Louis had a violent crime rate of 1,594 per 100,000 residents in 2013.
Source: St. Louis Business Journal, “St. Louis falls to fourth ‘most dangerous’ city in U.S.,” Kelly Moffitt, Nov. 13, 2014
