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于本周一发布美国城市犯罪率年度排行榜，新奥尔良成为去年全美犯罪率最高的城市，在过去一年中，该市共发生了1.9万多起犯罪案件，其中包括209起凶杀案。

位居排行榜前列的其它几个城市依次是新泽西州的卡姆敦、密歇根州的底特律、密苏里州的圣路易斯和加利福尼亚州的奥克兰。

报告称，去年新奥尔良的凶杀率大幅增长，从2006年的162起增长至209起。在经历了2005年的卡特里娜飓风后，新奥尔良市的人口大幅减少。

去年全美犯罪率最低的城市是纽约州的拉曼波，其次是上一年度犯罪率最低的城市——加州的米慎维埃、森林湖、奇诺岗、千橡树城以及马萨诸塞州的纽顿市。CQ Press根据美国联邦调查局（FBI）提供的犯罪数据编撰了该榜。

其主要依据包括凶杀、强奸、抢劫、严重袭击、入室盗窃和汽车盗窃等六项犯罪数据。

据CQ Press介绍，该机构从1999年起开始依据这六个指标编撰城市犯罪榜。

在美国33个人口超过50万的大城市中，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。

纽约为第二大犯罪率最低城市，此外，洛杉矶的西雅图和得克萨斯州的福沃斯跻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还包括马里兰的巴尔的摩、田纳西州的孟菲斯、华盛顿和费城。

CQ Press是美国SAGE学术出版集团的一个分支机构，该集团主要出版学术、教育和专业类期刊、图书及电子刊物。