According to the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report, there were 17 governors who were Republicans in the 25 states with the highest murder rates and 8 governors who were Republicans in the 10 states with the highest murder rates (Wikipedia.com & Stebbins, 2021) .
The bottom line is that it appears that there are more Republican governors in the states with the highest murder rates.
Jacksonville, Florida, was the murder capital of Florida per capita of residents in 2015. It is still the murder capital of Florida, and all this time, Jacksonville has had a Republican mayor!
Therefore, I say…. don’t let people convince you that Democrat run cities and states always have the highest murder rates…..That is a Republican talking point and what they will try to convince you to believe….but here is the article that says Jacksonville was #1 (Miami ,#2) in 2015 (https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/10/02/duval-still-floridas-murder-capital-why-doesnt-anyone-seem-care/15682480007/).
And there is more!
But first, why am I picking on Jacksonville, Florida? Because Jacksonville is my hometown, and it breaks my heart to see that my hometown has become a city that is so dangerous to live in today. I am actually afraid to drive around the city because of gun violence. My main concern are murders in Jacksonville, not the overall violent crimes and other crimes. When I add in the overall crime rate, Jacksonville looks a lot worse.
According to Skinner (2023), the “Jacksonville crime rate is 3,569 per 100,000 residents. That means the overall crime in Jacksonville is 65.8% higher than the Florida crime rate and 52.1% higher than in the rest of the country. The Jacksonville violent crime rate is 698 per 100,000 residents, or 82% higher than the Florida crime rate and 80% higher than the rest of the United States. The property crime rate is 2,871 per 100,00 residents, which is 62.3% higher than the rest of the state and 46.6% higher than in America overall.” Here is the link to that article: https://skinnermoving.com/blog/jacksonville-crime-rate/. Skinner’s statistics are probably a few years back, but you get the picture…..Jacksonville is still #1 in the state when it comes to murders no matter what statistics are used.
And, I am also picking on Jacksonville because I see misinformation flowing around social media platforms and cable news channels, which are the only places that many people get their news today.
According to the FBI’s crime data in 2019, Jacksonville, Florida, ranked #45 in murder rates of 65 major cities in the United States. See that reference at https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/murder-map-deadliest-u-s-cities/.
In Florida, there were a total of 1,290 murders in the state in 2020, or 5.9 for every 100,000 people — the 25th highest murder rate among all 50 states in the United States. See that reference at https://www.thecentersquare.com/florida/how-the-murder-rate-in-florida-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-country/article_96e262aa-18b8-5b1a-9fb1-e72ec8ff62b8.html. Note that Florida’s governor was and is a Republican.
Party Affliation of Governors of States & Murder Rates
Of the top 25 states in the United States with the highest murder rates in 2020 listed in the article published at https://www.thecentersquare.com/florida/how-the-murder-rate-in-florida-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-country/article_96e262aa-18b8-5b1a-9fb1-e72ec8ff62b8.html, there were 17 governors who were Republicans in the 25 states with the highest murder rates and 8 governors who were Republicans in the 10 states with the highest murder rates (Wikipedia.com & Stebbins, 2021) .
(Note that in the listed 25 states in the article posted at The Center Square. I found the party affliation of the governors in 2020 using wikipedia.com.)
United States compared to other countries
“According to the 2019 Global Peace Index, the United States is ranked 128th in the list of safest countries in the world. One of the largest factors determining a country’s safety ranking is its murder rate. In 2018, the United State had a total of 15,498 murders or a rate of 5.0 murders per 100,000 people. (https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/murder-rate-by-city)”
References
- Editorial, T.-U. (2015, October 2). Duval is still Florida’s murder capital. why doesn’t anyone seem to care? The Florida Times-Union. https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/10/02/duval-still-floridas-murder-capital-why-doesnt-anyone-seem-care/15682480007/
- Fieldstadt, E. (2022, February 24). Murder map: Deadliest U.S. cities. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/murder-map-deadliest-u-s-cities/7/
- Skinner, W. (2023, April 6). Jacksonville fl crime rate [2023] 👮: Is Jacksonville Florida safe? [crime map, Statistics + more]. Skinner Moving. https://skinnermoving.com/blog/jacksonville-crime-rate/
- Stebbins, S. (2021, December 10). How the murder rate in Florida compares to the rest of the country. The Center Square. https://www.thecentersquare.com/florida/how-the-murder-rate-in-florida-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-country/article_96e262aa-18b8-5b1a-9fb1-e72ec8ff62b8.html
- Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, October 5). List of current United States governors. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_governors
- World Population Review. (2023). Murder rate by city 2023. https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/murder-rate-by-city
