1 of 2

Write now Article Tools

On January 20, 2007, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dan Majors wrote an article titled, "Pa's black homicide rate leads nation". His report was based on information released the day before by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) in Washington D.C. which had, in turn, based its report on the most recently published data by the FBI: The 2004 Uniform Crime Report. Majors claimed there to be 398 black homicide victims in 2004, 50 female, making the rate in Pennsylvania a staggering 29.52 victims per 100,000 people. Majors quoted Director of the Violence Policy Center, Josh Sugarmann, as saying Pennsylvania's rate was more than 11/2 times the national average of 18.71. (Majors, 2007). Also, when a weapon could be identified, 86 percent of the victims (335 out of 389) were shot and killed by guns (VPC, 2007).

On February 12, 2007, a Pittsburgh Tribune Review article by Brian Rittmeyer titled, "Black homicides our problem," said that during the past three years 164 of 187 or 88 percent of homicides in Pittsburgh involved black victims (Rittmeyer, 2007). The next day, The Christian Science Monitor published an article by Alexandra Marks titled, "In Philadelphia, a disturbing' black murder rate". Marks' story claimed Philadelphia to have the highest black homicide rate in the nation: 19 victims per 100,000 people (Marks, 2007). However, Marks rounded the state average from 29.52 up to 30; therefore, realistically, the black homicide rate in Philadelphia may be just slightly over 18.50 - a big difference when one is counting lives. The article also stated that, according to Philadelphia police, 3 in 4 of these homicides are from gunfire (Marks, 2007).
In Pittsburgh, city officials quickly disregarded the information, for the most part, blaming the high violence rate on Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Josh Sugarmann claimed the cause of all the violence in Pennsylvania was due to lax gun laws; however, reports of black homicides in California, where gun laws are strict, were only slightly lower than those of Pennsylvania. In fact, California had the forth-highest rate of black homicide victims in the United States (VCP 2007).
Flash forward nearly four months. Finger-pointing and picture frame explanations distorts the scope of the issue. Indeed, readily available firearms in Pennsylvania probably factors greatly toward the number of black homicides committed each year. The Pittsburgh City Paper reported on February 8, 2007 that speakers at an anti-gun rally claimed neighborhood

• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Black homicide in Pennsylvania?
We want to hear your view. Write now!