[Vision2020] "Murder" rate in Moscow

[Don Coombs]

According to a headline in this morning's Daily News, 
the "rash of violent crimes have taken toll on Moscow, 
Latah County." The story says "Despite concerns, Latah 
County's murder rate isn't high when comparing it to 
similarly-sized counties."

And: "With seven murders and 35,600 people in Latah 
County, the murder rate is .019 murder per 100,000 
people this year.... In the United States, the overall 
murder rate was 5.6 per 100,000 in 2006."

People at the newspaper apparently had no problem with 
a murder rate of .019 per 100,000. Actually, if you 
accept that there have been seven murders, the rate is 
easily calculated to be about 19 per 100,000.

Also: Some of the homicides were murders, but with 
living suspects the term would be best saved for 
application after they are found guilty of that 
specific crime.

Don Coombs