American Politics Journal -- Flaw and Ordure in the Lone Star State



Home • Latest • Archive • Search

Flaw and Ordure in the Lone Star State
Under George W. Bush, Texas Crime Increases Even as Crime Rates Drop in the Rest of the Nation
by Tamara Baker

Wednesday, May 10, 2000 -- ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (AmpolNS) -- Question: What issue did George W. Bush use to take away the Texas Governorship from Ann Richards?

Answer: The Crime Issue.

Question: What, according to the FBI's latest statistics for 1998 and 1999, has gone down dramatically most everywhere in the nation?

Answer: Crime.

Question: What is the one place in the nation where the crime stats from 1998 to 1999 have NOT dropped, but in fact have RISEN?

Answer: Texas.

Don't believe me? Read it for yourself! You'll Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this.

If you'd rather not hit the above URL, here's a few choice outtakes:

Austin, Texas Crime Totals for 1998: 39,446.
Austin, Texas Crime Totals for 1999: 40,185.

Beaumont, Texas Crime Totals for 1998: 9,355.
Beaumont, Texas Crime Totals for 1999: 10,144.

Brownsville, Texas Crime Totals for 1998: 7,783.
Brownsville, Texas Crime Totals for 1999: 8,669.

Dallas, Texas Crime Totals for 1998: 101,974.
Dallas, Texas Crime Totals for 1999: 106,342.

Waco, Texas Crime Totals for 1998: 9,535.
Waco, Texas Crime Totals for 1999: 9,832.

But wait, you say? How do we know that this isn't a problem suffered by the region Texas inhabits, not just the Lone Star State itself?

Well, here's a nice cross-check from Table 2 of the FBI report:

Crime Index Trends By geographic region

Region

Total -7
Northeast -7
Midwest -8
South -4
West -10

Every region of the nation saw a reduction in crime to some extent. But note that the South, under which Texas is included in the FBI's crime reports (see http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/Cius_98/98crime/98cius35.pdf

for a listing of states by FBI region), had a much smaller drop than did the rest of the nation. That's because of the across-the-board crime upswings throughout the State of Texas.

Here's a stat from a city which also is counted along with Texas in the FBI's Southern Region:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Crime Totals for 1998: 24,569
Baton Rouge, Louisiana Crime Totals for 1999: 21,668

And, in case you were wondering, Arkansas is counted as a Southern state by the FBI as well:

Little Rock, Arkansas Crime Totals for 1998: 18,604
Little Rock, Arkansas Crime Totals for 1999: 17,499

Meanwhile, here's a Midwestern neighbor:

Wichita, Kansas Crime Totals for 1998: 23,303.
Wichita, Kansas Crime Totals for 1999: 20,977.

As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Falls? Not where crime is concerned:

Wichita Falls, Texas Crime Totals for 1998: 5,891.
Wichita Falls, Texas Crime Totals for 1999: 5,973.

I think you get the picture by now.

Dubya's one big selling point was his being Tough On Crime - it's why he's executed all those people, you know?

And now, it turns out that of all the places in the nation, Texas is the one state where crime has gone up, not down, overall.

And we're not even counting such things as Funeralgate against him, either. Yet.

Count on Al Gore to use this against the Shrub in the debates this fall.