Morgan Quitno

Morgan Quitno Press is a research and publishing company based out of Lawrence, Kansas. They compile books with statistics of crime rates, health care, education, and other categories, ranking cities and states in the United States. Among the major categories are "Smartest State", "Most Dangerous State", "Most Dangerous City", "Most Dangerous Metro Area", "Most Livable State", "Healthiest State", and "Most Improved State"; some information is per capita while some is overall. In July 2007 Morgan Quitno was acquired by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc.

Products

*State Rankings - comprehensive livability of each State. Annual "Most Livable State" Award is given to #1 State in this ranking.
*Health Care State Ranking - limited to and more detailed in health care. #1 State is awarded annual"Healthiest State" Award each year.
*Crime State Rankings - limited to and more detailed in crime. Best State is awarded annual "Safest State" Award while worst State is tabbed as "Most Dangerous State".
*City Crime Rankings - city and metro area version of Crime State Rankings mentioned above. "Safest City", "Safest Metro", "Most Dangerous City", "Most Dangerous Metro" are declared based on the data on this rankings.
*State Trends - shows trend of each State data. "Most Improved State" Awardee is decided based on those data.

America's Safest (Most Dangerous) Cities

Targeted Cities & Metros

*Targeted cities - pop. 75,000+
*Targeted metros - all (no minimum population)

Targeted Crimes

*murder
*rape
*robbery
*assault
*burglary
*automobile theft

Methodology

#Calculate crime rate (number of cases per pop. 100,000) of each 6 crimes based on previous year's FBI data.
#Compare these rates with U.S. average
#Calculate Crime Index based on Morgan Quitno's equation.
#Rank cities and metros by their Crime Index.

Criticism

The FBI recommends against use of its crime statistics for the direct comparison of cities as Morgan Quitno does in its "Most Dangerous Cities" rankings. This is due to the many factors that influence crime in a particular study area such as population density and the degree of urbanization, modes of transportation of highway system, economic conditions, and citizens' attitudes toward crime. [http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucrquest.htm]

In October 2007 The American Society of Criminology, The U.S. Conference of Mayors, and The Federal Bureau of Investigation requested that the publisher reconsider the promotion of the book — specifically, "their inaccurate and inflammatory press release labeling cities as 'safest' and 'most dangerous'" — because the rankings are "baseless and damaging." In November 2007 the executive board of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) approved a resolution opposing the development of city crime rankings from FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCRs). The resolution states the rankings "These rankings represent an irresponsible misuse of the data and do groundless harm to many communities" and "work against a key goal of our society, which is a better understanding of crime-related issues by both scientists and the public." [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-16-2007/0004707515&EDATE=]

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has criticized the "Most Dangerous Cities" list, saying the annual city-by-city crime rankings are "distorted and damaging to cities' reputations." [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-18-2007/0004707938&EDATE=] [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/41A85C43D2B421E186257396001D38A2?OpenDocument]

Cities of Illinois are not included in this ranking due to a disparity in reporting rape cases between Illinois State police data and FBI data. Other cities may not be included due to lack of some data.

Morgan Quitno's "Most Dangerous Cities" ranking has been criticized as a statistical half-truth, since it does not adjust rankings of cities with wide area city limits (Houston, Jacksonville) compared to cities with inner core limits (St. Louis, Atlanta). Houston's city crime statistics, for instance, are diluted by lower crime in affluent areas within its broad city limits, whereas almost all the low crime affluent areas of St. Louis are outside its city limits, which constitute only 12.5% of its metro area. St. Louis would fall far down the dangerous cities list just by annexing adjacent suburbs in this methodology, with no actual change in personal safety. Metro area rankings include all suburbs for all MSAs and therefore have some validity.Fact|date=August 2008

afest Cities

*Huntington Beach, California - 1994
*Irvine, California - 1995
*Amherst, New York - 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
*Newton, Massachusetts - 1999, 2004, 2005
*Brick, New Jersey - 2006
*Mission Viejo, California - 2007

Most Dangerous Cities

*Atlanta, Georgia - 1994 [ [http://www.morganquitno.com/1st_safest.htm The First Safest/Most Dangerous City Listing] . Morgan Quitno Press. Lawrence, Kansas, United States. 1994.] , 1995 [ [http://www.morganquitno.com/2nd_safest.htm The Second Safest/Most Dangerous City Listing] . Morgan Quitno Press. 1995.]
*Newark, New Jersey - 1996, 1997
*Gary, Indiana - 1998, 1999
*Detroit, Michigan - 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007
*Camden, New Jersey - 2004, 2005
*St. Louis, Missouri - 2002, 2006

afest and Most Dangerous Metropolitan Areas of 2006

afest and Most Dangerous Cities of 2007

References

ee also

* United States cities by crime rate

External links

* [http://www.morganquitno.com/ Morgan Quitno]
* [http://www.cqpress.com/product/City-Crime-Rankings-14th-Edition.html CQ Press City Crime Rankings, 14th Edition]
* [http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html FBI published data Crime in the United States (CIUS)]
* [http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2007/11/16/segments/89006 NPR's On the Media examins the credibility of the America's Safest (and Most Dangerous) Cities rankings in an interview with Criminologist Dr. Richard Rosenfeld]
* [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-16-2007/0004707515&EDATE= American Society of Criminology (ASC) approved a resolution opposing the development of city crime rankings from FBI Uniform Crime Reports (UCRs).]
* [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-18-2007/0004707938&EDATE= The U.S. Conference of Mayors Challenges City Crime Rankings]
* [http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/11/why-city-crime.html#more Why city crime rankings offer a misleading picture, by Richard Rosenfeld, Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA Today, November 29, 2007]
* [http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/41A85C43D2B421E186257396001D38A2?OpenDocument Area group fights 'crime' label, By Jeremy Kohler, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 11/18/2007]
* [http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7378664&nav=menu44_2 Disputed analysis of FBI stats: Detroit is most dangerous city, Wood TV Channel 8, Grand Rapids, MI, November 18, 2007]
* [http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/18/dangerous.cities.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch Experts say 'most dangerous city' rankings twist numbers, CNN November 18, 2007]