Indiana

Death By the Numbers

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

As we get ready to close down the year, there has been a lot of talk about Indianapolis’ homicide rate and what exactly is that number?   Well, like most things, the number you get depends on who you ask?

The number a lot of people like to cite is 117.  That number comes from the website Bart Lies.  While that number is correct, it’s somewhat misleading.  Because the guys who run the tally count every death, other than natural causes as a homicide, i.e. car accidents, police action shootings, etc.   This is not to say they aren’t correct, because those deaths are homicides.

However, when you look at the city’s murder rate (the intentional and unlawful killing of another person or persons) that number is 109;  still more than last year, but significantly down from previous years.

The  more disturbing statistic though when looking through those numbers are the high percentages of Blacks who are murder victims.  So far this year out of the 109 murders in Indianapolis, 59 of them or 54% were Black.  And out of that 59, more than half the victims were under age 35.

Blacks make up about 25% of Indianapolis’ population, but over the past years, Blacks have made up anywhere from 47% to 65% of the murder victims.   And the even sadder part of that stat is there is an 80% chance their assailant was also Black.

I bring this up because this has been a tough year in Indianapolis to be a member of law enforcement.  However I also believe a number of people of my complexion have tried to use IMPD’s problems as a wedge issue and stir up racial animosity in order to score political points in next year’s municipal elections.  If these guys really want to make a difference they would work a little harder to really address the number one problem facing certain segments of the Black population here in Indianapolis, which by the stats I’ve seen are other Blacks.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on December 22, 2010 (boomark / email).