Crime in Virginia

Crime in the U.S. state of Virginia has generally decreased from 2008 to 2014.

Summary

Overall, there were 177,060 crimes reported in 2014 in Virginia, including 338 murders and homicides.[1]

In 2012 Virginia had the 3rd-lowest rape rate by state after New Jersey and New York.[1][2]

The state has significantly lower crime rates than demographically similar neighboring states Maryland, North Carolina, and Tennessee.[3]

By location

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads had the highest crime rate by region in the state.[3]

Richmond

In 2012, Richmond had 42 murders, a murder rate of 20.2 per 100,000.[4]

In 2007 the FBI Uniform Crime Reports ranked Richmond as the 5th worst city for violent crimes with populations of 100,000 to 250,000.[5] Today Richmond is not in the top 25 of violent crime or murder.[6]

Capital punishment laws

Capital punishment is applied in this state. Both the electric chair and lethal injection are used to execute prisoners.[7]

State and federal officials may opt to send violent criminals to face trial in Virginia rather than their current state due to Virginia judges being more willing to carry out execution.[8]

When the “Beltway sniper” was arrested for 10 killings in the Washington area in 2002, federal authorities opted to send him to Virginia for prosecution even though most of the shootings took place in suburban Maryland.[8]

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, November 10, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.