America's Safest and Most Dangerous Cities
Encyclopedia
America's Safest and Most Dangerous Cities is a publication issued annually by CQ Press
, a division of Congressional Quarterly
Inc., that ranks American
cities on the basis of safety and crime. According to the publisher, the rankings are based upon statistics submitted by cities to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) which are then published by the FBI online, as part of the Bureau's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Recently, 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 publisher was acquired in June 2007 by CQ Press 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 U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a press releases criticizing the rankings, saying they were "distorted and damaging to cities' reputations."
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
. 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-honored 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 2007, 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."
A Sunday, June 5, 2011 op-ed in the New Haven Register explains some of the technical reasons why crime rankings like these are not accurate. The op-ed cites similar arguments to Rob Casey (FBI), in that comparisons based on differing geographies are not accurate.
CQ Press
CQ Press, a division of SAGE Publications, publishes books, directories, periodicals, and electronic products on American government and politics, with an expanding list in international affairs and journalism and mass communication....
, a division of Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
Inc., that ranks American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cities on the basis of safety and crime. According to the publisher, the rankings are based upon statistics submitted by cities to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) which are then published by the FBI online, as part of the Bureau's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Recently, the ranking has been criticized by several organizations, including The American Society of Criminology
American Society of Criminology
The American Society of Criminology is an international organization whose members pursue scholarly, scientific and professional knowledge concerning the measurement, etiology, consequences, prevention, control, and treatment of crime and delinquency...
(ASC), Criminal Justice Journalists, and The United States Conference of Mayors
United States Conference of Mayors
United States Conference of Mayors, sometimes referred to as the United States Council of Mayors, is the official non-partisan organization for cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayor or other chief elected official...
as well as the FBI.
Publication history
From 1995 through 2006, City Crime Rankings was published by Lawrence, Kansas-based Morgan Quitno PressMorgan Quitno
Morgan Quitno Press is a research and publishing company based in Lawrence, Kansas, which compiles books with statistics of crime rates, health care, education, and other categories, ranking cities and states in the United States...
. The publisher was acquired in June 2007 by CQ Press 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.
Criticism
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."The U.S. Conference of Mayors issued a press releases criticizing the rankings, saying they were "distorted and damaging to cities' reputations."
Also on November 19, 2007 CQ Press
CQ Press
CQ Press, a division of SAGE Publications, publishes books, directories, periodicals, and electronic products on American government and politics, with an expanding list in international affairs and journalism and mass communication....
publisher John A. Jenkins and Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings
Ella Bully-Cummings
Ella M. Bully-Cummings became the first female police chief of Detroit, the tenth-largest police force in the United States, when Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick appointed her on November 3, 2003....
debated the validity of the rankings on CNN Newsroom with co-anchor Don Lemon
Don Lemon
Don Lemon is a reporter for CNN and news anchor on the prime-time weekend version of CNN Newsroom, based in Atlanta.-Life and career :Lemon was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
. 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-honored 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
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
on November 29 2007, 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."
A Sunday, June 5, 2011 op-ed in the New Haven Register explains some of the technical reasons why crime rankings like these are not accurate. The op-ed cites similar arguments to Rob Casey (FBI), in that comparisons based on differing geographies are not accurate.