Book Stamper For Life.: States of Danger

More dreaded lists...Rankings of Safest/Unsafest states. Every year, a company called Morgan Quinto Press using FBI data releases the Safest States List (or index). Now I don't know exactly who this private firm is or how they sort through the stats, but according to MQP, our Nevadans or is it Nevadidian friends ranked most dangerous state 4 years in a row. That's some accomplishment! Bravo boys! Interestingly, over 87% of Nevada is federally owned wasteland desert. Residual effects of those atomic tests?! The Silver State has 3 "big" cities, Las Vegas (Clark County) , Reno, and Carson City (Capital). It has seen its population grow an incredible 21% from 2000 to 2006. This may account for its alarming crime statistics.

Same goes for Arizona and New Mexico I guess, rapid population increases. In fact, Arizona (aka, the Angry White State), has according to the 2006 census, replaced Nevada as the fastest growing state in the country. Could the fact that so many Californicans have moved to Nevada/Arizona/New Mexico in recent years have anything to do with this...they call them Costal Equity Refugees I think. I'm reminded of an old bumper sticker which was popular in the Northwest, particularly in Oregon which read: Don't Californicate Oregon. Damn Oregonians and their street kid punks!

Now the one state that surprises me the most is Alaska. Alaska always seems to rank pretty high as one of the most dangerous states in the country. I can understand the high suicide rate (6 months of darkness), but why so much criminal activity...boredom? Eskimo gangs?!

Conversely, the safest state in the Union once again is North Dakota, which happens to among the least populated. The state government was offering free land to any citizen to build a home there. Perhaps, I'll look in to it...and the Happy White States of the Northeast are among the safest (with Maryland/DC/Delaware being the exceptions).

Crime: Where Does Your State Rank? Dangerous to Safest:

Rank	State	2006 Rank
1	Nevada	1
2	New Mexico	3
3	Arizona	4
4	Maryland	5
5	Tennessee	8
6	South Carolina	6
7	Alaska	9
8	Florida	7
9	California	10
10	Louisiana	2
11	Michigan	12
12	Texas	11
13	Arkansas	15
14	Washington	16
15	Oklahoma	14
16	North Carolina	17
17	Alabama	18
18	Delaware	24
19	Missouri	20
20	Georgia	13
21	Illinois	19
22	Colorado	22
23	Ohio	23
24	Mississippi	21
25	Indiana	28

Rank	State	2006 Rank
26	Pennsylvania	29
27	Kansas	25
28	Hawaii	26
29	Oregon	27
30	Massachusetts	30
31	New York	31
32	Minnesota	35
33	New Jersey	32
34	Kentucky	33
35	Rhode Island	38
36	Virginia	37
37	Nebraska	34
38	Utah	36
39	Idaho	40
40	Connecticut	39
41	West Virginia	41
42	Wisconsin	44
43	Iowa	43
44	Montana	42
45	South Dakota	45
46	Wyoming	46
47	New Hampshire	47
48	Maine	49
49	Vermont	48
50	North Dakota	50