CRIMES OF VIOLENCE 



12 J 



CRIMES OF VIOLENCE IX CHICAGO AND IN 

 GREATER NEW YORK 



BY MAYNARD SHIPL1 Y 

 RENO, KEY. 



u 



HUMAN life is the cheapest thing in Chicago," recently declared 

 Judge Cleland. " This city," he asserted, " witnesses a 

 murder for every day in the year." Now 365 homicides a year would 

 mean, for Chicago, that one out of every 5,614 of her citizens is 

 destined to be murdered each year; or, in other words, that 17 in each 

 100,000 of the population would annually meet death at the hands 

 of a fellow citizen. This would place Chicago on a criminal level with 

 Lexington, Ky., where nearly 39 per cent, of the population are negroes. 

 In Chicago the negro element forms scarcely 2 per cent, of the total 

 inhabitants. As a matter of fact, however, whereas Lexington stands 

 first in the scale of American cities in respect to the ratio of deaths 

 by homicide to total population, Chicago stands about eighth in the 

 list, showing a lower record for homicides than either San Francisco 

 or Los Angeles, as may be seen in the accompanying table. 



Table showing the Annual Average of Deaths by and Arrests for Homi- 

 cide in each 100,000 of Population, in Various Cities of the United 

 States, based on Reports of Health Officers and of Chiefs of Police. 

 (Most of the averages given are for a period of six years.) 



Annual Average Annual Average 



of Deaths by of Arrests lor 



Homicide per Homicide per 



100,000 of 100.000 of 



City Population Population 



Lexington, Ky 17.77 40.07 



Kansas, Kan 17.64 18.27 



Louisville, Ky 14.85 17.41 



Cincinnati, O. 1 14.28 6.9C 



St. Louis, Mo 14.16 1 1.30 



San Francisco, Cal 9.25 19.69 



Los Angeles, Cal 9.00 4.86 



Chicago, 111 7.30 6.87 



Cleveland, 6.12 9.56 



Greater New York 4.93 13.23 



Indianapolis, Ind 4.18 4.74 



Providence, R. 1 3.59 1.70 



Baltimore, Md 3.39 7.74 



Philadelphia, Pa 3.27 4.93 



Boston, Mass 3.13 1.98 



St. Paul, Minn 2.32 2.13 



Newark, N. J. 2 1.50 9.16 



Milwaukee, Wis 1.45 1.77 



1 As the Census estimate of population is too low, the ratio of deaths by 

 homicide is proportionately too high. 



2 Probably incomplete returns on number of deaths by homicide. 



