The red state murder rate was 33% higher than the blue state murder
rate in both 2021 and 2022. 2022 was the 23rd consecutive year that
murder plagued Trump-voting states at far higher levels than
Biden-voting states. 8 out of the 10 states with the highest murder
rates in 2022 voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020. From 2000
to 2022, the average red state murder rate was 24% higher than the
average blue state murder rate. Red states like Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Alabama are America�s murder capitals and have had the
highest three murder rates for 15 of the last 23 years. The excuse
that sky high red state murder rates are because of their blue cities
is without merit. Even after removing the county with the largest
city
from red states, and not from blue states, red state murder rates
were
still 20% higher in 2021 and 16% higher in 2022.

House Republicans held three field hearings on violent crime last year in
New York City, Chicago, and Washington DC. These hearings should have
been
held in the murder-plagued states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama.
In 2023, Speaker Johnson�s hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana had a murder
rate 8 times higher (41.1) than Minority Leader Jeffries� hometown of
Brooklyn, New York (5.0), 6 times higher than Nancy Pelosi�s San
Francisco, California (6.6), and more than 7 times higher than the
national average (5.5). Our 2023 report in the Red State Murder Problem
series found that murder rates were significantly higher in red states
than blue states every year from 2000 to 2020. Over these 21 years, the
red state murder rate was 23% higher than the blue state murder rate. Our
analysis of the latest CDC data found that 2021 and 2022 were no
exception.

This report analyzes homicide data from 2021 and 2022 for all 50 states
from the Center of Disease Control Wonder�s National Center for Health
Statistics Mortality Data. Data is based on death certificates collected
by state registries and provided to the National Vital Statistics System.
Like in our previous report, we chose CDC data over FBI data because it�s
more up to date and does not rely on voluntary reporting from counties
and
states. All states are required to report mortality data to the CDC while
they�re only encouraged to report crime data to the FBI. To allow for
comparison across states, we calculated the state�s per capita murder
rate, the number of murders per 100,000 residents, and categorized states
by their presidential vote in the 2020 election, resulting in an even
25-25 state split.

We found that murder rates were down 5% nationwide in 2022, but a red
state murder gap still persists. Murder rates in red states were 33%
higher than in blue states in both 2021 and 2022. As in 2019 and 2020,
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama hold the first, second, and third
highest murder rates in the country, respectively. The rest of the 10
states with the highest murder rates include the usual suspects�South
Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Georgia. States with the
highest murder rates continue to be dominated by red states, not
perennial
blue states like New York and California. Even when we removed the county
with the largest city in red states (and kept them in for blue states),
murder rates in red states were still 20% higher in 2021 and 16% higher
in
2022. This is not a blue cities in red states problem.

Our analysis confirms that murder rates have been higher in red states
than blue states every year this century. Yet, the prevalent media and
political narrative is that crime is rampant in Democrat-run states and
cities when the reality is that people are far safer in New York City
than
in over a dozen red states. The murder crisis continues to be far higher
in red states in 2021 and 2022.

Murder rates in red states were 33% higher than in blue states in both
2021 and 2022. In 2021, the average red state murder rate was 9.0 per
100,000 residents while the average blue state murder rate was 6.8 per
100,000. In 2022, both these numbers dropped slightly to 8.5 per 100,000
residents and 6.4 per 100,000 residents, respectively. If blue states had
a murder rate as high as red states, they would have seen 4,255
additional
murders in 2021 and 3,971 additional murders in 2022.

While murder rates thankfully dropped in both red and blue states in
2022,
red states still see a murder rate significantly higher than blue states
have ever seen. Over the past 23 years, the murder rate in blue states
hit
its peak in 2021 at 6.8, significantly lower than red states� peak at 9.0
the same year. Red states haven�t seen a murder rate under 6.8 since
2015,
when the murder rate was 6.4. Red states clearly have a murder problem
that defies the easy media narrative prevalent today. Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Alabama continue to dominate the top three spots.

Since 2016, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama have had the three
highest
murder rates in the country. This trend actually goes back to 2008, with
just one year, 2015, where Maryland replaced Alabama in the top three.
These three red states have consistently had the highest murder rates for
over 15 years now. You would never know it based on the media.

For example, Republicans and the media constantly talk about rampant
crime
in California and New York, but those two states� murder rates don�t even
crack the top 25. In 2021, California had the 26th highest murder rate
and
New York had the 33rd highest rate. In 2022, California had the 30th and
New York had the 35th highest murder rates. Mississippi and Louisiana�s
murder rates have been more than three times California�s over the past
two years. And more than four times New York�s. If California had the
same
murder rate as Mississippi, 5,101 more people would have been killed in
2022. If New York had the same murder rate as Louisiana, 2,814 more
people
would have died.

The rest of the top 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2021 and
2022 include usual suspects like New Mexico, Missouri, South Carolina,
Tennessee, and Georgia. In 2021, 6 out of the 10 states with the highest
murder rates voted for Donald Trump in 2020. In 2022, 8 out of 10 voted
for Donald Trump. Red states like Tennessee and South Carolina have
consistently been in the top 10 since 2000, with Arkansas joining the mix
in 2004 and Missouri in 2008. Blue states like New Mexico and Georgia
have
consistently been in the top 10 since 2000. Maryland and Illinois were in
the top 10 in 2021 but dropped off in 2022 when their murder rates
decreased by 16% and 15%, respectively. They were replaced in the top 10
by Arkansas and Alaska. Alaska saw an unexpected 51% increase in
homicides
from 2021 to 2022, bringing them from the 24th highest murder rate to the
10th highest.

The bottom line is that red states have dominated, and continue to
dominate, the top 10 states with the highest murder rates since 2000.

Even when large cities are removed from red states, murder rates are
still
higher.

Red states have a ready excuse for their high murder rates: the blue
cities located within them. This is laughable. First of all, blue states
have more blue cities than red states. That�s what makes them blue.
Second, the numbers don�t lie even when giving red states some extra
help.

We removed all of the murders in the county with the largest city for 22
of 25 red states. Three red states�North Dakota, Wyoming, and
Idaho�didn�t
have large enough cities to perform this exercise, so we used their
original rate. We did not give this advantage to blue states. Even with
this special help, the red state murder problem still persisted.
(Information on which counties were removed is in the methods section
below.)

In 2021, after removing the largest cities, red states still had a murder
rate 20% higher than blue states. Even after removing Jackson and New
Orleans, Mississippi and Louisiana still had the two highest murder rates
in the country. Alabama still held the number three spot, and South
Carolina the number five spot. Removing big blue cities from red states
didn�t make much of a difference in state rankings.

In 2022, red states still had a murder rate 16% higher than blue states
after removing their largest cities. Alabama actually jumped from the
number three spot to the number one spot. Mississippi held the second
spot, New Mexico (a blue state that did not get added help) the third,
and
Louisiana the fourth. So, while there was some small movement of states
in
this exercise, the theme stayed the same: red states continued to
dominate
the states with the highest murder rates, even after we gave them the
advantage of removing their largest city.

But we shouldn�t have to remove these cities from our analysis because
blue cities in red states are still beholden to red state laws. Laws that
make it easy for criminals to traffic and buy guns (86% of homicides are
committed with a gun). Laws that underinvest in cities, law enforcement,
and social programs. Laws that are responsible for the highest poverty
rates and the highest gun violence rates in the country. The fact that
murder rates are high all across red states, not just in cities, tells us
that state laws play a part in their crime problem. Blue states spend 33%
more money per capita on policing than red states.

"You prepare for a phone call your mother has passed.
You don't prepare for a phone call that your mother has been RAPED."

Some of the victims can't speak. They rely on walkers and wheelchairs to leave their beds. They have been robbed of their memories. They come to nursing homes to be cared for.

Instead, they are sexually assaulted.

The unthinkable is happening at facilities throughout the country: Vulnerable seniors are being raped and sexually abused by the very people paid to care for them.

It's impossible to know just how many victims are out there. But through an exclusive analysis of state and federal data and interviews with experts, regulators and the families of victims, CNN has found that this little-discussed issue is more widespread than anyone would imagine.

Even more disturbing: In many cases, nursing homes and the government officials who oversee them are doing little -- or nothing -- to stop it.

Sometimes pure -- and even willful -- negligence is at work. In other instances, nursing home employees and administrators are hamstrung in their efforts to protect victims who can't remember exactly what happened to them or even identify their perpetrators.

In cases reviewed by CNN, victims and their families were failed at every stage. Nursing homes were slow to investigate and report allegations because of a reluctance to believe the accusations -- or a desire to hide them. Police viewed the claims as unlikely at the outset, dismissing potential victims because of failing memories or jumbled allegations. And because of the high bar set for substantiating abuse, state regulators failed to flag patterns of repeated allegations against a single caregiver.

It's these systemic failures that make it especially hard for victims to get justice -- and even easier for perpetrators to get away with their crimes.

"At 83 years old, unable to speak, unable to fight back, she was even more vulnerable than she was as a little girl fleeing her homeland. In fact, she was as vulnerable as an infant when she was raped. The dignity which she always displayed during her life, which was already being assaulted so unrelentingly by Alzheimer's disease, was dealt a final devastating blow by this man. The horrific irony is not lost upon me ... that the very thing she feared most as a young girl fleeing her homeland happened to her in the final, most vulnerable days of her life."

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/170221115822-sonja-fisher-collage-02-large-43.jpg
Sonja Fischer is shown here in earlier days. She is pictured at top of this story during the last years of her life, with her daughter Maya's haunting quote.

Maya Fischer made this statement in court at the 2015 sentencing of a nursing assistant convicted of raping her mother. Choking back tears, Fischer detailed her mother's story -- recounting how she had fled Indonesia as a youth with her family to escape the rape and killing of young girls by Japanese soldiers, only to fall victim decades later to a man whose job was to care for her.

A fellow caregiver saw male nursing assistant George Kpingbah in 83-year-old Sonja Fischer's room at 4:30 a.m. on December 18, 2014, at the Walker Methodist Health Center in Minneapolis. A bare leg was on each side of his hips, and her adult diaper lay open on the bed. When the witness noticed the 76-year-old aide thrusting back and forth, she said she knew a sexual assault was occurring.

Kpingbah ultimately pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a mentally impaired or helpless victim and was sentenced to eight years in prison. In an emotional statement directed at Kpingbah during sentencing, the judge told him he had done more than ravage the lives of his victim and her family. He had betrayed the public trust granted to caregivers who have such intimate access to the sick and elderly.

"You violated (a) position of authority, a position of trust," Judge Elizabeth Cutter said at the sentencing hearing. "The ramifications of what you did are so far-reaching. ... It also affected everyone in that facility. Everyone who stays in that facility. Everyone who works at that facility. It affects everyone who has to place a loved one in a facility."

Kpingbah apologized at the hearing and said he planned to take his Bible with him to prison. His attorney asked for leniency. Kpingbah had endured his own personal struggles as a refugee, the attorney said, fleeing Liberia after many of his family members were killed. Kpingbah's one "unspeakable act," he told the judge, was completely out of character.

Yet in court documents uncovered by CNN, prosecutors revealed it wasn't the first time Kpingbah had been investigated over sexual assault allegations. Personnel records obtained by prosecutors during the investigation and reviewed by CNN show Kpingbah was suspended three times as Walker Methodist officials investigated repeated accusations of sexual abuse at the facility, including at least two where he was the main suspect.

The earliest complaint was in 2008, when police investigated allegations he had engaged in sexual intercourse with a 65-year-old who suffered from multiple sclerosis. In another case, an 83-year-old blind and deaf woman who lived on the same wing as Fischer's mother said she was raped multiple times -- always at midnight. Police investigated her report just seven months before Fischer's mother was assaulted. While the woman could not identify her assailant, Kpingbah was suspended by the facility along with several other male staffers who were on duty during the nights of the alleged assaults.

Predators find elderly patients to be easy prey.

None of these allegations were found to be substantiated by the facility or the state. For years, Walker Methodist kept Kpingbah working on the overnight shift. Until that early morning in December 2014, when someone caught him in the act.

In that instance, the Minnesota Department of Health found that the facility acted immediately to ensure the resident's safety and promptly removed Kpingbah. The state also noted that the facility had previously provided Kpingbah with required abuse training. As a result, the facility was not cited for any wrongdoing; only Kpingbah was held accountable for the assault.

Maya Fischer had no way of knowing about the previous allegations against Kpingbah uncovered by CNN. But she sued Kpingbah, who agreed to an unusual arrangement in which he is on the hook for a massive $15 million judgment only if he abuses again.

Walker Methodist refused to comment on the previous allegations against Kpingbah, who worked at the facility for nearly eight years, but said in a statement that it fully cooperated with authorities and that "the care and well-being of all of our residents and patients is our primary focus."

CNN reached out to family members of other residents who earlier reported they were sexually assaulted at Walker Methodist during the time Kpingbah worked there (though he was not deemed a suspect in every case). They said the officials there were quick to dismiss the residents' claims as hallucinations or fantasies.

What should we investigate next? Email us.

"Walker Methodist certainly failed to handle this appropriately with my mother and other residents, and there should be consequences," said the son of the first alleged victim after learning of Kpingbah's rape conviction from CNN.

A son of a different alleged victim, who had accused an unknown perpetrator, said he was irate he was never told that a pattern of complaints had emerged against a single caregiver. Had he known of this pattern, the son said, he would have taken his mother's report of abuse more seriously. Instead, he trusted Walker Methodist.

The Minnesota Department of Health told CNN it is barred by state law from releasing the identity of anyone investigated over an allegation that has not been substantiated, regardless of the number of allegations.

But both family members of these two alleged sexual assault victims also questioned the state health department. How effective is its oversight if it was aware of the multiple reports of abuse at Walker Methodist and still could not intervene?

When pressed by CNN, the agency said that the reports occurred during a time when a paper system was used and that it has been working to modernize this system in the hopes of "flagging such patterns."

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/02/health/nursing-home-sex-abuse-investigation/