In a survey of 20 American and European cities, all the nine American cities polled placed within the top 12, leaving the European cities far behind.
Capital Washington, DC, topped the poll with a murder rate of almost 70 people per 100,000, more than thrice the second-placed Philadelphia.
The high incidence of violent crimes is attributed to the fact that criminals in America are more likely to have firearms. A state department document cited argument -- including about money and property under the influence of alcohol or narcotics -- as the most common reason for murders. One-third of all recent murders were triggered by arguments. Criminal activities like rape, theft, and narcotics accounted for a fifth of murders and gang killings accounted for one-twentieth.
But crime rates has fluctuated considerably over the course of the last 50 years, rising significantly in the late 1960s and 1970s, peaking in the 1980s and then decreasing considerably in the 1990s. Over the past 30 years, the crime rate rose throughout the 1980s, reached its peak in 1991 and then began to decrease throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
But in the 2000s, crime and murder rates have stagnated with no visible signs of a further drastic dip.
Image: A couple holds hands during funeral services for 13-year-old Devin Quincy Brown who was shot and killed by police officers after he reportedly backed a stolen car into a police car in Los Angeles.
Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images
Also see: Remembering 9/11
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