Crime in the U.S.

So far, there is not a final report for 2009 on the FBI’s website for crime in the United States.  There is, however, a priliminary report for 2009 states that law enforcement agencies in the nation show a 4.4 percent decrease of violent crime reported in the first half of 2009.  This category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.  Property crime, defined as burglary, larceny-theft and motor theft, decreased 6.6 percent in the first half of the year.  Again, these are only rimes reported to law enforcement agencies.  There are more conclusive statistics on the 2008 crime report. The report states the 1,382,012 violent crimes that were reported took place in 2008.  There are 308,828,772 people in the U.S. according to the government’s census website. That is a .45 percent chance of becoming a victim of violent crime in the U.S.  There were 9,767,915 occurences of property crime in the nation.  A person has a 3 percent chance becoming a victim of property theft.  In comparison to Houston’s statistics, the national average shows that there is 1.6 percent less chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime and 2 percent less of a chance of becoming a victim of a property crime than in Houston.   There will be comparisons of Houston’s crime statistics to its region and state in later posts.

What are the crime statistics in Houston?

According to the Houston Police Department uniform crime report, crime does not very much from month to month.  Crime statistics from January to December 2009 show that there were 296 murders, 818 rapes, 11,359 robberies and 13,294 aggravated assaults, totaling 25,767 violent crimes in the city of Houston.  The City of Houston website states that as of January 2010, there were 2,257,412 people in Houston.  Let’s assume the most of the rape victims were female.  It has been shown that 50 percent of Houston’s population is female. This means that roughly one in every 1,380 women in Houston will be raped in one year’s time.  Out of the entire population, one in 7,626 people will be murdered,one in 199 will be robbed and one in 170 will be assaulted.  It was found that there were 119,674 non-violent crimes in Houston in 2009.  This number breaks down to 28,749 burglaries, 76,184 thefts and 14,741 auto-thefts.  This translates to one in 79 people being burglarized, one in 30 becoming victims of theft and one in 153 becoming victims of auto-theft.  There is less than a 2 percent chance of becoming a victim of violent crime in Houston and just over a 5 percent chance of becoming a victim of a non-violent crime.  In all, there is less than a 7 percent chance of becoming a victim of any crime in Houston.  Whether this is a large chance or a small chance is relative and data from other cities of comparable populations must be collected before a conclusion can be met.

The Second Congo War and the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement

In June 1999, representatives from several organization met in Lusaka, Zambia to compose an agreement in an attempt to end the Second Congo War.  The name of the agreement became known as the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement.  The representatives were the Republic of Zambia, the Organization of African Unity, the United Nations and the Southern African Development Community.  The agreement established rules that were to go into effect immediately and required the signature of 8 African nations and several military groups.  Among the terms defined in the agreement were the halt of all military operations in the DRC, the release of hostages and prisoners of war, the disarming of all armed groups, withdrawal of all foreign forces, prohibition of child soldier recruitment and dozens of others..  Read the entire agreement here. The war raged on coming to a halt many times when ceasefires were called and finally ended in 2002, although conflict and violence is still present in the nation, requiring the U.N. and other groups to remain in order to keep the fighting and crimes to a minimum.

UN: Haiti Needs Weather Services

After the mass destruction of Haiti from the earthquake last month, the last thing that the country needs is another natural disaster.  What it needs even less is not to know when one is coming.  With the rainy season and annual floods just weeks away, the U.N. has made it a priority to restore meteorological weather services to warn the country before more disaster strikes.  The U.N. will attempt to get basic operational meteorological services up and running within 6-12 months.  With hurrican season just around the corner, it is imperative to have these services in place as the country frequently is affected by the storms.

Kimia II Operation Ends In DRC; New Operation to Replace it

The U.N. has been a constant presence in  the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1999. The U.N.’s  Organization Mission in Congo, or MONUC, attemps to deter conflict in the region by ‘monitoring ceasefires between foreign and Congolese forces, overseeing implementation of the Lusaka agreement, disarming and repatriating thousands of foreign armed combatants and assisting the transition to democratic rule’.  In December 2009, the U.N. made the statement that it current operation, Kimia II, would end, and a new operation, Amani Leo, would replace it.  Read more here. The new operation will bring with it new policies, one of which will be the removal of all child soldiers from all armed forces.  Dozens of countries are participating in MONUC operations each year.  From July 2009 to June 2010, the approved budget to run the operation is $1.35 million and so far 155 people have lost their lives.  Discover more figures here.

Why here? Why now?

The question that has crossed many minds is why did this happen?  Many Christian groups have blamed voodoo as the cause of the earthquake.  They believe that the Haitian practice of this syncretic religion has brought the devastation upon the nation.  Some Haitians do not believe that their God would demolish their country or cause their people to suffer.  Others believe that the earthquake is a sign of the second coming of Christ. People are trying to assign reason to this situation and these explanations may be their way of coping.  Read more about Haitian voodoo practice and Christian opinion here. Why do religious people often overlook the scientific explanation? The answer seems to be that in order to accept the scientific explanation, one must accept that things like this may happen by chance.  Earthquakes happen due to molten magma circulating beneath the Earth’s surface which move huge rocks that make up plates.  Haiti lies right on top of two enormous plates.  What caused the Haitian earthquake is the movement of these two plate against caused one to move over the other, causing the surface to rise. Read a more in-depth explanation here. So, what should the people of Haiti do with this information?  Most are preoccupied at the moment in surviving and finding loved ones.  At some point, the question of why is going to be asked by the people that were affected by this earthquake.

Introduction

Here I am sitting in Social Issues at the School of Communication at the University of Houston.  My name is Aimee and this blog is my assignment for this class.  I will be keeping this blog current throughout the semester.  Initially, the blog will be about Haiti and the recent earthquake that has affected it.  At this time, the death toll is 150,000 people and it seems that the number will climb as bodies are uncovered from the rubble.  The worst damage occurred in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, a city of 2 million.  According to the Associated Press, over 250,000 people are homeless and 200,000 have left the city and its outskirts for rural areas that are already plagued with poverty.  Tens of thousands of children are now orphans and many have no safe place in which to escape.  Food is scarce and people are struggling against starvation.  This is a glimpse of the situation today.  In the coming weeks I will be keeping this blog filled with information about the plight of the Haitians and the reconstuction of their nation.