How can this possibly be happening during the reign of God's Own President, George W. Bush, The Most Moral Man (Besides Reagan) Who Ever Lived?

Crime rising from 1990s' record low

Crime across the USA continued to tick upward in 2002 for the second straight year after record lows in the 1990s, according to a new FBI report that cites increases in rapes, homicides and burglaries.

The number of rapes reported by U.S. law enforcement agencies last year was up 4.7% to 95,136; homicides were up 1% (to 16,204) and burglaries increased 1.7% (to 2.2 million), the FBI national crime report says. Vehicle thefts were up 1.4%, but other property crimes — larceny-thefts and robberies — were down slightly, the report says....

Well, don't worry -- I'm sure conservatives will find a way to demonstrate that this is just a delayed reaction to the rampant lawlessness of Bill Clinton, who, along with his wife, is the cause of all evil things in the universe.

And even though the FBI reports that

The American Northeast had the lowest crime rate, with 2,889 serious crimes per 100,000 people. The South, the highest: 4,722 crimes per 100,000 people

no doubt John Lott will find a way to use the new statistics to reinforce his message that increased gun ownership reduces crime.

On that subject, I always enjoy looking at crime statistics broken down by state, like those the FBI generously supplies here. The Bureau has statistics on ten categories of crime. Let's compare the rates per 100,000 population of Bible-belt, gun-friendly, conservative, traditionalist Texas and commie-liberal, morally decadent, gun-grabbing New York State:

Rate Per 100,000 Inhabitants:

[Overall] Crime Index:

New York: 2,803.7

Texas: 5,189.6

Violent Crime

New York: 496.0

Texas: 578.6

Property Crime

New York: 2,307.7

Texas: 4,611.0

Murder And Non-Negligent Manslaughter

New York: 4.7

Texas: 6.0

Forcible Rape

New York: 20.3

Texas: 39.1

Robbery

New York:191.3

Texas: 172.5

Aggravated Assault

New York: 279.7

Texas: 361.0

Burglary

New York: 400.4

Texas: 976.1

Larceny-Theft

New York: 1,660.1

Texas: 3,163.4

Motor Vehicle Theft

New York: 247.2

Texas: 471.4

Ten categories, and New York beats Texas in nine of them, in most cases handily. And Hillary Clinton's one of our senators! There must be a computer glitch somewhere....