New Orleans once again is among one of the worst metropolitan cities in America when it comes to murders.

For the Pelican State, it’s not just New Orleans that gets a bad rap. As the New York Times reports, Louisiana has had the nation’s highest murder rate for 31 straight years.

After a COVID-19 pandemic-induced lull in early 2020, near the end of the that year, violent crime began to rise in many major U.S. cities, with law enforcement officials blaming the prevalence of guns and easy access to them.

Where Does New Orleans Rank For Murders Per Capita?

According to World Population Review, a website that analyzes statistical data for metropolitan areas.

The twenty cities in the United States with the highest murder rates (murders per 100,000 people) are:

  1. St. Louis, MO (69.4)
  2. Baltimore, MD (51.1)
  3. New Orleans, LA (40.6)
  4. Detroit, MI (39.7)
  5. Cleveland, OH (33.7)
  6. Las Vegas, NV (31.4)
  7. Kansas City, MO (31.2)
  8. Memphis, TN (27.1)
  9. Newark, NJ (25.6)
  10. Chicago, IL (24)
  11. Cincinnati, OH (23.8)
  12. Philadelphia, PA (20.2)
  13. Milwaukee, WI (20.0)
  14. Tulsa, OK (18.6)
  15. Pittsburgh, PA (18.4)
  16. Indianapolis, IN (17.7)
  17. Louisville, KY (17.5)
  18. Oakland, CA (17.1)
  19. Washington D.C. (17.0)
  20. Atlanta, GA (16.7)

Why Does New Orleans Always Rank Near the Top For Murders?

Now the hard part: Why does New Orleans perennially rank among the worst cities for homicides? The answer to that question had made many policy makers weary.

Guns

Former Mayor Marc Morial told the Times the issue could be guns. “Lots of illegal or stolen weapons, an illegal system in trafficking in weapons, plus drugs and narcotics, produce this lethal mixture. Look at the Legislature to see how many criminal laws versus efforts to address homelessness there have been. The state’s response is more of the same rather than addressing what’s driving it.”

Poverty

“Poverty by itself is a very powerful variable in trying to make sense out of crime and homicides, but it requires more nuance,” Dee Wood Harper, an emeritus professor of criminal justice at Loyola University, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “In New Orleans, look across our neighborhoods. In some, homicide is more common than the common cold, while others have never had a homicide.”

Lack Of Adequate Police Force

New Orleans Police Department Superintendnet Chief Shaun Ferguson told reporters in December 2021 that he had lost more than 150 officers in 2021 while recruiting 44 new officers. He said he would devote much of 2022 to recruitment and retention of police officers

Final Word

Whatever the cause of deadly crime, it’s going to take a citywide effort for New Orleans to break the cycle.

With that being said, you might be wondering how safe New Orleans is for travel. Find out.

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