Crime in Houston

Houston had 303 homicides in 2015 and 302 homicides in 2016. Officials predicted there would be 323 homicides in 2016. Instead, there was no increase in Houston's homicide rate between 2015 and 2016.[1]

Houston's murder rate ranked 46th of U.S. cities with a population over 250,000 in 2005 (per capita rate of 16.3 murders per 100,000 population).[2] In 2010, the city's murder rate (per capita rate of 11.8 murders per 100,000 population) was ranked sixth among U.S. cities with a population of over 750,000 (behind New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, and Philadelphia)[3] according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Murders fell by 37 percent from January to June 2011, compared with the same period in 2010. Houston's total crime rate including violent and nonviolent crimes decreased by 11 percent.[4] The FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) indicates a downward trend of violent crime in Houston over the ten- and twenty-year periods ending in 2016, which is consistent with national trends. This trend toward lower rates of violent crime in Houston includes the murder rate, though it had seen a four-year uptick that lasted through 2015. Houston's violent crime rate was 8.6% percent higher in 2016 from the previous year. However, from 2006 to 2016, violent crime was still down 12 percent in Houston.[5]

Houston is a significant hub for trafficking of cocaine, cannabis, heroin, MDMA, and methamphetamine due to its size. and proximity to major illegal-drug exporting nations.[6] Houston is one of the country's largest hubs for human trafficking.[7]

In the early 1970s, Houston, Pasadena and several coastal towns were the site of the Houston mass murders, which at the time were the deadliest case of serial killing in American history.[8][9]

Gangs
See also: Gangs in the United States

A spokesperson for the gang crime division of the Houston Police Department (HPD) stated in 2008 that white gangs in Houston include biker, prison, and racist groups, and that no predominately white Blood groups exist; there are some majority black gangs which had some white members.[10] The Houston Press reported that year that there was a white street gang in Bacliff in Galveston County.[11]

Criminal justice

The Harris County, Texas jails in Downtown Houston house pre-trial and misdemeanor inmates under Texas law.

Federal Detention Center, Houston houses pre-trial and short-term inmates under federal law.

In 1853 the first execution in Houston took place in public at Founder's Cemetery in the Fourth Ward; initially the cemetery was the execution site, but post-1868 executions took place in the jail facilities.[12] In 1923 the state took responsibility for all executions.

Incidents

See also

References
  1. Turner, Ashlynn (January 4, 2017). "Houston homicide rate changes little in 2016".
  2. ""Murder Rate in 2005" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 28, 2006. (30.4 KB)," Morgan Quitno. Retrieved on November 29, 2006.
  3. FBI Uniform 2010 (prov.) Crime Report Table 4 ". Retrieved on July 6, 2011.
  4. Lee, Renee C. "New FBI stats suggest crime's in decline in Houston", Houston Chronicle, July 26, 2011, p. B2. Retrieved July 26, 2006.
  5. Blakinger, Keri (September 25, 2017). "FBI report: Houston's murder rate down, violent crime increases". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  6. "Distribution – Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2009." U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved on August 11, 2009.
  7. "Sex Trafficking: Groups Expose Houston's Dark Secret". cbn.com. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  8. "CRIME: The Houston Horrors". TIME Magazine. August 20, 1973. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  9. "Beaver Country Times". Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  10. Lomax, John Nova (2008-09-10). "Bacliff Wiggers". Houston Press. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  11. Lomax, John Nova (2008-09-10). "Gangsters in Bacliff". Houston Press. Retrieved 2019-12-03.
  12. Pando, Patricia. "Two Worlds a Mile Apart: A Brief History of the Fourth Ward" (PDF). Houston History Magazine. pp. 37–41.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.