In a previous post, I looked at the rates of violent crimes in border states. Those states bordering Mexico have had a huge drop in violent crime over the past 20-some years, from the time at which violent crime peaked in the United States in 1992 through 2013, the latter year being the latest data available at the time of my analysis.
The four Mexican border states and the drop in their rates of violent crimes.
California: -63.3%
Arizona: -40.8%
New Mexico: -35.6%
Texas: -50.1%
These findings are based on the the Uniform Crime Reporting statistics. The UCR stats have been assembled by the FBI going back to the 1930s. In recent years the FBI has put their data online allowing analyses of crime rates according to standardized criteria. The annual data are, for the most part, nine months behind with the year 2016 information appearing at the end of September, 2017. In 2017, the Trump administration decided to provide much less detailed information (70% fewer tables) in comparison to previous years and this will affect future assessments.
Looking at Border Cities.
Alright, states are large and changes in crime in Northern California might not reflect activity closer to the border. So I decided to examine crime rates in another way. The FBI also collects crime statistics for cities. There are five cities on the United States-Mexico border which have a population of over 100,000.
Let's get out of the way two problems with the city statistics. First of all, as of now, the statistics available for these cities is through 2014. Secondly, in 2014, four out of five of these cities switched to the new rape definition and did not report the legacy definition numbers. This leads to an artificial bump in both rape and, to a lesser degree, total violent crime statistics for the final year of this analysis. Using national statistics over a period of four years where both definitions are used, the new definition shows a 38.1% higher incidence of rape.This figure should be reliable represents over 400,000 rapes reported with both definitions.
Violent Crime in Border Cities.
I came to this analysis with an open mind. Would I find an increase in violence? On the one hand, national violence statistics have sharply declined since the nineties. On the other hand, the city of Matamoros, on the Mexican side across the border from Brownsville, gets its name from Mata (Spanish for kill) and Moros (Moors). It did have a death cult causing havoc back in the eighties. So, is violence along the border a spooky fact or spooky myth?
The United States as a Whole.
Violent crime in the United States peaked in 1992. Percent down from peak: -51.8%.
Murders. Peaked: 1986*. Percent down from peak: -54.1%.
Rape. Peaked: 1992. Percent down from peak: -38.3%.
The United States Drop in Violent Crime.
 |
| US Decline in Violent Crime Rates |
 |
| US Decline in Murder Rates |
 |
| US Decline in the Rate of Rapes, Legacy Definition |
A Tour of the Five Border Cities with 100,000 or more in population.
Brownsville is on the Texas-Mexican border near the Gulf of Mexico. In 2014 it had a population of 183,433.
Violent crimes. Peaked: 1988. Percent down from peak: -77.3%.
Adjusting for legacy definition of rape: -78.5%.
Murders. Peaked: 1986. Percent down from peak: -82.9%.
Rape. Peaked: 2006. Percent down from peak: -30.0%.
Adjusting for legacy definition: -49.3%
 |
| Brownsville Decline in Violent Crime Rate |
 |
| Brownsville Decline in Murder Rate |
 |
| Brownsville Decline in the Rate of Rape, Legacy Definition |
Conclusion: Brownsville was a dangerous place that has greatly decreased its violence. A concerning recent uptick in rape, but still half of its peak.
McAllen.
Moseying up along the Rio Grande, 60 miles to the northwest, we come to the city of McAllen. In 2014 it had a population of 138,122.
Violent crimes. Peaked: 1994. Percent down from peak: -83.2%.
Adjusting for legacy rape definition: -84.7%
Murders. Peaked: 1986. Percent down from peak: -56.6%.
Rape. Peaked: 2006. Percent down from peak: -75.7%.
Adjusting for legacy definition: -82.4%.
 |
| McAllen, TX, Decline in Violent Crime Rate |
 |
| McAllen, TX, Decline in Murder Rate |
 |
| McAllen, TX, Decline in Rate of Rapes, Legacy Definition |
Conclusion: McAllen, also, is a much safer place as is shown by its graphs.
Laredo.
Another three hours up the Rio Grande and you come to the streets of Laredo, once the capital of the Republic of the Rio Grande. In 2014, it had a population of 250,994.
Violent crimes. Peaked: 1989. Percent down from peak: -57.0%.
Adjusting for legacy rape definition: -58.2%
Murders. Peaked: 1986. Percent down from peak: -68.2%.
Rape. Peaked: 2006. Percent down from peak: -11.9%.
Adjusting for legacy: -36.2%.
 |
| Laredo, TX, Decline in Violent Crime Rate |
 |
| Laredo, TX, Decline in Murder Rate |
 |
| Laredo, TX, Decline in Rate of Rapes, Legacy Definition |
The results are not quite as dramatic as they are for Brownsville and McAllen, but Laredo has also lowered its crime rate. This city had one high year (1989) in overall violent crime and if the comparisons are made to its established high in the 1990s, the decline is closer to a 40% drop. The rape statistics show a marked increase during the 1990s (prior under-reporting?).
El Paso.
The largest city along the Texas-Mexico border is El Paso. In 2014, it had a population of 680,273.
Violent crimes. Peaked: 1993. Percent down from peak: -64.4%.
Adjusting for legacy rape definition: -65.6%
Murders. Peaked: 1986. Percent down from peak: -67.4%.
Rape. Peaked: 2006. Percent down from peak: -3.1%.
Adjusting for legacy: -29.9%
 |
| El Paso, TX, Decline in Violent Crime Rate |
 |
| El Paso, TX, Decline in Murder Rate |
 |
| El Paso, TX, Decline in the Rate of Rape, Legacy Definition |
El Paso has dramatically reduced its violent crime and murder rates. As with Laredo, much of the recent higher (but not highest) rate of rape is due to the revised definition.
San Diego, California has more people than the other border cities combined: in 2014, 1,368,960. They have only reported using the legacy rape definition, so there is no distinction necessary when making comparisons.
Violent crimes. Peaked: 1992. Percent down from peak: -70.3%.
Murders. Peaked: 1991. Percent down from peak: -84.4%.
Rape. Peaked: 1992. Percent down from peak: -35.6%.
 |
| San Diego, CA, Decline in Violent Crime Rate |
 |
| San Diego, CA, Decline in Murder Rate |
 |
| San Diego, CA, Decline in Rate of Rapes |
San Diego has shown a remarkable decrease in violent crime over the past two-plus decades.
Overall Conclusions.
Each of the border cities have shown a drop in violent crime and murder rate greater than that of the nation as a whole. While the U.S. as a whole saw a greater than 50% drop in the rate of violent crimes and murders, rapes only dropped by -38%. Each of the border cities has a lower rate of rape, with McAllen showing an -82.4% decline, and El Paso showing the least, with a-29.9% decline.
In Perspective.
In Nazi Germany, Jews were labelled as criminals and rapists. Typical is a speech of Goebbels wherein he said he does not deny Jews are humans. Neither did he deny the humanness "of murder[er]s, child rapists, thieves and pimps."
Dylan Roof, who gunned down nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church, declared the day before his attack: "you rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go."
The local head of the Ku Klux Klan clarified this sentiment: "A better target for him would have been these gang-bangers, running around rapping, raping, and stealing." [Both statements referenced here.]
Birth of a Presidency.
The same week as the comment quoted immediately above, Donald Trump, when making his speech announcing his bid for the presidency, said:
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best — they're not sending you. They’re not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
These hateful fantasies have no basis in reality.
A Couple of Statistical Notes.
"Down from peak" is potentially a problematic statistic. It can present artifacts as findings. It works great to define what's going on when you are currently at the peak, or when the peak and trough represent consistent findings. "Down from peak" also does address whether peak violence is occurring. To account for some of its potential bias, the graphs of each year reported in the database are presented.
Legacy Rape. Rape was redefined in 2013 to include more than just forcible rape. In most cases, the legacy definition numbers are included using the older definition which allows for direct comparisons. Overall, the legacy rates compared to the newly defined rates (overall, U.S., per 100,000):
New Old (Legacy)
2013 35.9 25.9
2014 37.0 26.6
2015 39.3 28.4
2016 40.4 29.6
Over those four years the revised definition has a 38.1% higher rate than the legacy definition.
The U.S. had its absolute peak in murders in 1980. I chose the year 1986 to be in line with information available from the cities, from 1985 to 2014.
The UCR statistical data tool has been out of service (or just not responsive to my attempts to access it) for about a week and this prevented me from following up on some of the above questions. Fortunately, I had already downloaded the most relevant data. I hope to write a follow-up piece, soon.
Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.
 |
| Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press |
Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.
Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Martin Hill Ortiz is also the author of A Predator's Game. His epic poem, Two Mistakes, recently won second place in the Margaret Reid/Tom Howard Poetry Competition. He can be contacted at mdhillortiz@gmail.com.
