Political correctness thrown into fray of 'dangerous city' report

Publication: San Diego Union Tribune

Dana Wilkie
November 26, 2007

WASHINGTON – Nearly one of every 13 people living in Detroit does not have a job. Moreover, eight of every 10 is African-American – a racial group that, like it or not, is more likely than others in this country to kill or rob.

It seems logical that these two realities might translate into a high crime rate that might create dangerous living conditions. But when a private research group reached that conclusion last week using FBI statistics, city mayors and the federal government called for suspending the group's publication and asked the media to ignore it.

Watchdog groups suggest the mayors and FBI are playing to "politically correct" sympathies, and that they would rather obscure the socioeconomic dynamics behind their regions' crime rates than risk the public relations tarnish that comes with a "dangerous city" label.

"These mayors are saying, 'Let's pretend it's not true,'" said Jared Taylor, president of The New Century Foundation. "To somehow say they are the high priests and only they can tell us what (statistics) mean, goodness gracious, that's not democracy."

The report in dispute is from CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., which released rankings of the nation's most “dangerous” cities based on FBI figures. Detroit topped the list, followed by St. Louis, then Flint, Mich. Three California cities – Oakland, Richmond and Compton – were ranked among the 15 most dangerous cities.

The rankings were based on per-capita rates for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft.

The FBI and the U.S. Conference of Mayors called the rankings "incomplete" and "distorted" – saying they failed to reflect factors contributing to crime rates, such as population density, residents' mobility, commuting patterns, income, poverty, education levels and even climate.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose Web site says "creating a safe, secure city for children and families" is a top priority, said the study fails to point out that heavily urbanized cities have more crime per capita than sprawling ones whose boundaries include low-crime outskirts.

Asked if – rankings aside – Detroit has a relatively high crime rate, Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning said "no."

"Detroit is not a dangerous city," Canning said, noting that people must pay to view the full report. "The report put out inappropriately utilized FBI data for the purpose of profit."

Watchdog organizations insist government data should be available to all citizens to analyze however they like. The FBI's and mayors' objections, they say, reflect fears that the data might highlight realities – such as relationships between crime and race – that government leaders don't like to acknowledge.

"It's a self-interested, public relations defense mode they've gone into, because they don't like this kind of analysis," said Ellen Miller, director of the Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for more transparent government.

Taylor's organization, The New Century Foundation, publishes "The Color of Crime," which in 2005 reported that blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit homicides and eight times more likely to commit robbery, while Latinos commit violent crimes at roughly three times the rate of whites.

"This is a very provocative and unpleasant finding, but those are the directions in what the facts tend," said Taylor, who notes that other factors include unemployment rates, poverty levels and education levels. "Of course, everyone in America is nervous as a cat when it has anything to do with race."

The New Century Foundation studies immigration and race relations. Critics call it a hate group with ties to white supremacy.

U.S. Department of Justice figures also indicate that in 2005, homicide-offense rates for blacks were more than seven times higher than for whites, while incarceration rates were 5½ times higher for blacks than whites, and almost twice as high for Latinos than whites. The Justice Department estimates about 32 percent of black males will enter state or federal prison during their lifetime compared with 17 percent of Hispanic males and 5.9 percent of white males.

In Detroit, nearly 82 percent of the population is African-American and the unemployment rate is 7.7 percent. At the end of 2005, more than one-third of Detroit residents lived below the poverty line.

The demographics in other cities ranked "dangerous" reflect circumstances that might predict crime.

St. Louis – where more than half the population is black – in recent years has lost several corporate pillars. Many of St. Louis' north neighborhoods suffer from poverty, unemployment and dilapidated housing.

In Flint, Mich., about one of every four people lives below the poverty line, the unemployment rate is 8.3 percent and more than half the population is African-American. The public school system has come under fire for high truancy and dropout rates.

In Camden, N.J., – No. 5 on the "dangerous" list – one of every three residents lives below the poverty line and more than half the population is black. City leaders have blamed poverty for the persistently high crime rate.

Groups that analyze government data – including the Center for Public Integrity, Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Center for Responsive Politics – say government can make their job difficult. Those in Congress still file personal finance reports on paper, for instance, and lobbyist reports can be viewed online as scanned images, but the data are not available to download.

"It's not like the government is doing a lot of this analysis on its own,” said Center for Responsive Politics spokesman Massie Ritsch. “Were it not for curious citizens, we wouldn't know a lot about a lot of things."