Violent crime is seen as one of the biggest menaces to society, which is why rates for violent offenses make the most prominent headlines. Recently, FBI data was released for 2013 that revealed Odessa had the highest violent crime rate out of 24 metropolitan areas in Texas last year.
The West Texas city with a population of just over 110,000 recorded a violent crime rate of 806.4 incidents per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report for 2013. It was more than twice the violent crime rate recorded in the Dallas area. Overall, violent crime is declining nationally and there has been a decrease in violent offenses from 1.3 million in 2009 to about 1.163 million in 2013.
The 1,163,146 violent crimes nationwide last year was a decrease of 4.4 percent from the 2012 figure.
MySanAntonio reported the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area had the highest murder/non-negligent manslaughter rate among Texas cities: 8.6 per 100,000 residents in 2013 while Amarillo reported the highest number of rapes in Texas – 84.9 incidents of reported rapes per 100,000 residents.
The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metro area emerged from the statistics as the robbery capitol of Texas last year, recording 233.3 incidents per 100,000 residents.
As well as being the Lone Star State’s violent crime capital, Odessa, also reported the highest number of aggravated assaults in 2013: 645 per 100,000 residents.
The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area was the 17th most dangerous urban area in Texas last year. With a violent crime rate of 332.9 per 100,000 inhabitants and a murder/non-negligent manslaughter rate of 4.4. The robbery rate in the Dallas area was 120.8 and the rape rate was 31.8 per 100,000 people.
The FBI divides violent crime into four classes — murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — and calculates a rate of each incident class per 100,000 residents.
Violent crimes are among the most serious offenses you can be charged with. If you are faced with a charge for a violent crime, you could be contemplating the loss of your freedom for many years. It’s important to hire an experienced Dallas criminal defense attorney. Our firm has won an extraordinary number of acquittals in both state and federal courts. These acquittals have involved serious violent crimes including allegations of murder and sexual assault.
