The state of Arkansas has made big changes since 2012 in regards to crime and unemployment rates. The information from the most recent FBI data along with census data reveal a generally uplifting picture for Arkansans. It seems that there is more improvement being made than is diminishing.
One Arkansas city, however, seems to be headed in the wrong direction from the rest of the state. Pocahontas, Arkansas is leading other cities in its increase of multiple crime rates. In property crime rates, Pocahontas had the greatest increase in rates from 2012-2015 by 2.45 percentage points. The town of less than 6500 is also the greatest in increasing overall crime rates.
Pocahontas has the fourth largest increase in violent crime rates.
Though the assumption is often made that the localities with high unemployment rates are mirrored by high crime rates, it doesn’t seem to be the case in Arkansas from 2012 to 2015. In total crime rates, violent crime rates, and property crime rates, there doesn’t seem to be a significant trend relating unemployment to crime.
Pocahontas is actually in the list of localities with a decreasing unemployment rate.
The town that is improving its employment rates went from the sixth lowest overall crime rate to a ranking of 30 in the highest ranking. Skipping over 156 localities.
What is happening in this small Arkansas town that is causing crime rates to rise? For this story I would speak to police officials about if anything has changed with the way they are documenting crimes. It would also be interesting to learn if they have begun enforcing laws more intensely since 2012.
Specifically, Pocahontas is on a list of 188 other Arkansas localities increasing in drug offenses per capita. Pocahontas had 79 more drug offenses in 2015 than in 2012.
The contrast that makes this particularly interesting is how well the rest of the state is doing. Overall crime rates have decreased across the state. The median crime rate per capita has decreased by almost 1 percent. 111 Arkansas localities have decreased in crime rates and only 77 have increased.
Violent crime rates have increased in 88 localities and decreased in 97.
Some areas have been more successful than others in changing the crime occurring in their city or county. Pine Bluff, which has been known as one of the most dangerous cities in Arkansas and the country, is in the top 10 for largest decrease in overall crime rates. Pine Bluff has also been successful in decreasing the violent crime rate of the city. There were six fewer homicides than 2012 in the city in 2015. Pine Bluff also went down in property crime rates.
Little Rock, which also has had the reputation as a potentially dangerous Arkansas city, is also on the list of areas with decreasing violent crime rates. Little Rock has decreased its total homicide count by 13 since 2012. Little Rock’s property crime rate is also decreasing.
Only 10 areas in the Natural State have increased in the number of homicides, the greatest of which was Helena with an increase of five homicide charges.
Median family income has gone up $1,274 since 2012 and the median unemployment has gone down by almost 1 percent in the state.
The main thing I would focus on in this story would be the changes occurring in Pocahontas. I could also compare this to what is happening in Pine Bluff. It seems the cities are on two opposite routes in terms of improving the cities’ crime. I would of course speak to law enforcement about what changes these places have made and what trends they have picked up on. For instance, perhaps there is a new crowd entering Pocahontas for some reason and it is causing the city’s crime to go up.
The story would be somewhat general in the sense that it would touch on a few ways that the crime and unemployment have changed as opposed to just one specific crime. While my focus would be the two cities, I would also include context from the other big changes in Arkansas. I think it is an important story because citizens are unlikely to analyze the data themselves but would still find usefulness in the data provided and knowing how cities around them are changing.
The context is important because if a place such as Pine Bluff, which is notoriously dangerous, is making positive changes along with the rest of the state, how could such a small town be so different? There must be some change outside of unemployment that this is causing this.
I would include points about how the unemployment rate seems unrelated to the crime which means there must be another factor affecting crime rates. Perhaps with more data I could find a stronger correlation.
https://drive.google.com/a/email.uark.edu/file/d/0B9BJ7H34ytvgZ2xfd2VaSlJHbDA/view?usp=sharing
Recent Comments