https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-two-decade-red-state-murder-problem

The murder rate in the 25 states that voted for Donald Trump has
exceeded the murder rate in the 25 states that voted for Joe Biden in
every year from 2000 to 2020. Over this 21-year span, this Red State
murder gap has steadily widened from a low of 9% more per capita red
state murders in 2003 and 2004 to 44% more per capita red state
murders in 2019, before settling back to 43% in 2020. Altogether, the
per capita Red State murder rate was 23% higher than the Blue State
murder rate when all 21 years were combined. If Blue State murder
rates were as high as Red State murder rates, Biden-voting states
would have suffered over 45,000 more murders between 2000 and 2020.
Even when murders in the largest cities in red states are removed,
overall murder rates in Trump-voting states were 12% higher than
Biden-voting states across this 21-year period and were higher in 18
of the 21 years observed.

Republicans have made crime a major selling point over the past several
elections. In 2020 and 2022, they ran ads accusing Democratic candidates
of wanting to �defund the police�� a position held by only a handful of
fringe Democratic officeholders. In October 2022, one-quarter of ads from
Republican candidates and PACs focused on crime. Republican-aligned Fox
News aired, on average, 141 segments on crime across weekdays in the two
months leading up to the midterms. In the week after the midterm, their
coverage of violent crime dropped by 50%.

In March of 2022, we released a report that found murder rates in 2020
were 40% higher in Trump-voting states than Biden-voting states. In this
follow-up report, we studied homicide data going back to 2000 to see if
this one-year Red State murder epidemic was an anomaly. It was not.
Despite a media narrative to the contrary, a wide and widening Red State
murder gap has spanned the past two decades.

In this study, we collected homicide data from 2000 through 2020 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. 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; they�re only
encouraged to report crime data to the FBI. The United States Department
of Justice has acknowledged that CDC data is more accurate. (There were
four states with several years of missing data�New Hampshire, North
Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. In these instances, we relied on FBI
numbers
from the Uniform Crime Statistics.)1 To allow for comparison, 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 the murder rate in Trump-voting states has exceeded the
murder rate in Biden-voting states every year this century. Cumulatively,
overall murder rates since 2000 were on average 23% higher in Trump-
voting
states. For the past 21 years, the top 10 murder rate states have been
dominated by reliably red states, namely Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama,
and Missouri. Even when we removed the county with the largest city in
Trump-voting states (and kept them in for Biden-voting states), murder
rates were still significantly higher in these red states.

And while media reports give the impression that murder rates are
skyrocketing in blue areas, murder rates have actually increased at far
higher rates in Trump-voting states over the past two decades, widening
the Red State murder gap from a low of 9% in 2003 and 2004 to a high of
44% in 2019, before falling to 43% in 2020. Since 2000, murder rates have
increased 39.4% in red states and just 13.4% in blue states.

There is a media and political narrative that crime is a Democratic
problem, occurring mostly in big blue cities and fueled by lax policies.
While murder is by no means the only crime in America, it is the most
serious. And as far as murder is concerned, it is a bigger problem in red
states than blue states and only becoming more so. As we noted in our
last
report, Republicans do a much better job blaming others for crime than
actually stopping it. The murder rate in Trump-voting states has exceeded
Biden-voting states every year this century.

Despite the �Democrat-caused crime crisis,� murder rates in Trump-voting
states have been higher than Biden-voting states every single year this
century (see graph below). In 2000, the murder rate in Trump-voting
states
was 6.35 per 100,000 residents compared to Biden states� 5.47 per 100,000
residents, 16% higher. At its lowest, in 2003 and 2004, murder rates in
Trump states were 9% higher than in Biden states. At its highest, in
2019,
murder rates in Trump states were 44% higher than in Biden states.

Overall, when looking at 2000-2020, murder rates were on average 23%
higher in Trump states. The average murder rate in Trump states between
2000 and 2020 was 6.44 per 100,000 residents compared to 5.23 per 100,000
residents in Biden states. If Biden states had the same murder rate as
Trump states, they would have seen 5,000 more murders in 2020 alone.
Between 2000 and 2020, they would have suffered an additional 45,400
murders.

If Biden states had the same murder rate as Trump states, they would have
seen 5,000 more murders in 2020 alone. Between 2000 and 2020, they would
have suffered an additional 45,400 murders.

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The top 10 murder rate states are increasingly dominated by Trump-voting
states.

Solidly red states have dominated the top 10 murder rate states for the
past decade�some for each of the last 21 years. Louisiana had the highest
murder rate in the country from 2000 to 2018, until it was surpassed by
Mississippi. Before becoming the state with the highest murder rate in
2019, Mississippi held the number two spot for 16 years between 2000 and
2018. Alabama has been in the top 5 for 20 out of the last 21 years.
South
Carolina has been in the top 10 for each of the past 21 years. All of
these states have voted for the Republican presidential candidate in
every
election since 2000. The red states of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri
have also consistently been in the top 10 since 2004.

A handful of Biden states have as well, but not to the same degree as
Trump states. Maryland has been among the top 10 for 20 out of 21 years,
New Mexico for 16 years, and Georgia for 10 years. States often mentioned
in the media as crime havens, like California and New York, have not
graced the top 10 once. New York has never even been in the top 25 for
murder rates this century.

Between 2000 and 2010, red states and blue states roughly split the top
10, with four or five of the states being blue. But after 2010, murder
rates fell in blue states relative to red states. Beginning in 2011, red
states have held 7 or 8 spots in the top 10 every year.

The murder rate gap between Trump and Biden states has widened over the
course of two decades.

Murder rates in Trump states have been increasing at much higher rates
than Biden states. Back in 2000, murder rates in Trump states were 16%
higher and fell to a 9% gap in 2003 and 2004. By 2007, the Red State
murder gap reached 20% and would exceed 20% in every year but one
thereafter. In 2014, the Red State murder gap exceeded 30% for the first
time (32% in 2014) and would remain above that threshold throughout. The
Red State murder gap crossed the threshold of 40% in 2019, when murder
rates in Trump states were 44% higher than Biden states, before receding
slightly to 43% in 2020.

Over the period studied, murder rates jumped 39.4% in Trump-voting states
(6.35 murders/100,000 population in 2000 to 8.84/100,000 in 2020). Murder
rates increased just 13.4% in Biden-voting states (5.47 murders/100,000
population in 2000 to 6.20/100,000 in 2020).

Ironically, as the media frenzy over �soft on crime� Democrats reached
its
peak, the Red State murder gap widened to its deepest gulch, contrary to
the popular narrative.

Ironically, as the media frenzy over �soft on crime� Democrats reached
its
peak, the Red State murder gap widened to its deepest gulch, contrary to
the popular narrative.

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

Some on the right argue that murder rates in red states are higher
because
of the blue cities in those red states. Of course, blue states have more
blue urban areas than red states. That is what makes most states blue.
The
fact is that murder rates have increased in urban, suburban, and rural
areas.

But to answer these critics, we performed an exercise to give red states
a special boost. For this exercise, we removed all of the murders in the
county with the largest city for 19 of 25 red states. In six rural red
states home to no cities with large numbers of murders, this calculation
was not possible based on available CDC data.2 Blue states would get no
such advantage. But even with the largest city removed from red states,
the Red State murder gap persisted.

SLIDELL, La. (WGNO) — A Slidell man has been indicted on nine charges in a sexual assault investigation involving three children.

Man wanted in connection with Georgia homicide arrested at motel near Covington

The Office of District Attorney Collin Sims reported that 42-year-old Leon Paul Square was indicted by a St. Tammany Parish grand jury on two counts of first-degree rape, one count of third-degree rape and six counts of molestation of a juvenile.

https://wgno.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Slidell-man-indicted-in-sexual-assault-case-involving-three-children.png?resize=640,360
Leon Paul Square (Courtesy: Office of District Attorney Collin Sims)

Sims said the indictment follows an investigation led by the Slidell Police Department’s detective Matt Bauer.

The district attorney’s office reported that Square was indicted on Wednesday, Aug. 21, after the case was presented to the jury by Assistant District Attorney Zachary Popovich.

https://wgno.com/news/crime/slidell-man-indicted-in-sexual-assault-case-involving-three-children/