New Orleans has highest U.S. city crime rate

New Orleans had the highest crime rate of any U.S. city last year, with 209 murders and more than 19,000 reported criminal incidents, CQ Press reported on Monday in an annual ranking.

Other high-crime cities, in declining order, were Camden, New Jersey; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and Oakland, California.

New Orleans, where population declined dramatically after 2005's Hurricane Katrina, showed a jump in the murder rate, which rose from 162 in 2006 to 209 in 2007, the report found.

CQ Press, which compiled the rankings from FBI crime statistics, said the most crime-free U.S. city in 2007 was Ramapo, New York, followed by Mission Viejo, California, which had the lowest ranking last year; Lake Forest, Chino Hills and Thousand Oaks, California; and Newton, Massachusetts.

The crime rate rankings were calculated using six crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft.

The categories have been used since 1999 to rate crime in all U.S. cities, according to CQ Press.

When looking just at the 33 biggest US cities, with populations of 500,000 or more, Detroit, Michigan, had the highest crime rate and Honolulu, Hawaii, had the lowest.

New York City had the second-lowest big-city crime rate after Honolulu, and Seattle, Los Angeles and Fort Worth, Texas also made the top 10.

Detroit, Michigan had the worst crime rate among big cities, according to the report, followed by Baltimore, Maryland; Memphis, Tennessee; Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.

CQ Press is a division of SAGE, which publishes journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational and professional markets.

(Agencies) CQ Press于本周一發布美國城市犯罪率年度排行榜，新奧爾良成為去年全美犯罪率最高的城市，在過去一年中，該市共發生了1.9萬多起犯罪案件，其中包括209起兇殺案。

位居排行榜前列的其它幾個城市依次是新澤西州的卡姆敦、密歇根州的底特律、密蘇里州的圣路易斯和加利福尼亞州的奧克蘭。

報告稱，去年新奧爾良的兇殺率大幅增長，從2006年的162起增長至209起。在經歷了2005年的卡特里娜颶風后，新奧爾良市的人口大幅減少。

去年全美犯罪率最低的城市是紐約州的拉曼波，其次是上一年度犯罪率最低的城市——加州的米慎維埃、森林湖、奇諾崗、千橡樹城以及馬薩諸塞州的紐頓市。CQ Press根據美國聯邦調查局（FBI）提供的犯罪數據編撰了該榜。

其主要依據包括兇殺、強奸、搶劫、嚴重襲擊、入室盜竊和汽車盜竊等六項犯罪數據。

據CQ Press介紹，該機構從1999年起開始依據這六個指標編撰城市犯罪榜。

在美國33個人口超過50萬的大城市中，密歇根州的底特律市犯罪率最高，夏威夷的檀香山犯罪率最低。

紐約為第二大犯罪率最低城市，此外，洛杉磯的西雅圖和得克薩斯州的福沃斯躋身犯罪率最低城市前十名。

除底特律外，犯罪率居前列的大城市還包括馬里蘭的巴爾的摩、田納西州的孟菲斯、華盛頓和費城。

CQ Press是美國SAGE學術出版集團的一個分支機構，該集團主要出版學術、教育和專業類期刊、圖書及電子刊物。