Where the killings occur
Los Angeles, the homicide capital of America in 1992 when 1,096 people were killed, has seen a steady decline and by 2004 the city ranked 47th in the nation. The most striking improvement from 1992 to 2004 is around MacArthur Park, west of downtown. Elsewhere in Southern California, some cities’ homicide numbers have gone up, but none have rates that crack the top 10 nationally.
U.S. homicide rates in 2004
Cities over 100,000
*--* National rank State Rate* 1 New Orleans La. 56.3 2 Gary Ind. 53.7 3 Richmond Va. 46.3 4 Baltimore Md. 43.5 5 Detroit Mich. 42.1 6 Washington D.C. 35.8 7 Richmond Calif. 33.8 8 St. Louis Mo. 33.7 9 Flint Mich. 32.3 10 Newark N.J. 30.0
*--*
In California
*--* National rank Rate* 13 San Bernardino 25.3 16 Inglewood 22.3 46 Pomona 13.5 47 Los Angeles 13.4 55 Lancaster 11.8 75 Long Beach 10.0 78 Oxnard 9.8 86 South Gate 9.0 100 Palmdale 7.7 112 Santa Ana 7.2 126 Pasadena 6.3 133 Riverside 6.0 188 Anaheim 3.0 192 Ventura 2.8 200 Simi Valley 2.5 220 Irvine 1.2
*--*
* Homicides per 100,000 population
Sources: Los Angeles Police Department; FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Data Analysis by Doug Smith and Sandra Poindexter
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