The rate of firearm-related homicides in the U.S. in 2011 was 3.6 per 100,000 persons, the same as in 2010 and otherwise lower than any year from 1993 forward, according to a new report from the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. The previous low in the 18-year study period was 3.8 in 2000. And, according to the BJS report, the rate in 2011 of non-fatal firearm victimizations, or reported acts of violence in which firearms were used, was 1.8 per 1,000 people 12 and older. That was up one-fifth of one percent from the last two years but down five-and-one-half points since 1993.
Collaboration in Civic Spheres
Archive for the ‘Public Safety’ Category
5 years for repeat DUI offender, after Snoqualmie bust
by Matt Rosenberg May 10th, 2013
With nine prior convictions from 1986 to 2005 for driving under the influence of alcohol plus felony convictions in Yakima County for two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one for vehicular assault – stemming from a 1991 tragedy when he had a blood alcohol level of .30 – Dwight Lloyd Casady was driving without a legal license along Railroad Avenue at River Street in Snoqualmie, Wash.
According to King County Court documents, police signaled him to stop because his taillights were covered with mud. He was very slow to respond and drove half on the shoulder for some distance.
Field sobriety and blood alcohol tests showed him to be clearly impaired.
Asked to place his right heel to his left toe, he kept falling.
When an officer who had taken him to the station noticed a particular smell he admitted he had urinated himself.
Compounded by a high “offender score” from his past record, Casady, 47, of Harrah, Wash. last Friday May 3 in King County Superior Court was sentenced to five years in prison for his felony DUI conviction based on the January arrest in Snoqualmie.
A charge also filed in connection with the January incident, for driving with a suspended or revoked license, a gross misdemeanor, was ultimately not prosecuted.
In the 1991 tragedy in Yakima County, Casady’s impaired driving resulted in the deaths of two and the “serious maiming” of a third person, court records state.
The related convictions for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault earned him a sentence in October 1991 of 89 months, or almost seven-and-a-half years.
Yet records in the recent case also reveal that by 1997 he was out of jail and convicted in that year for one of his nine DUIs, plus two more in 1998.
His most recent DUI conviction prior to Friday’s felony sentence was in 2005.
His extralegal endeavors also include felony convictions in Snohomish County in 2002 for theft and unlawful imprisonment. Overall, Dwight Lloyd Casady has been named as a defendant 57 times in municipal and superior courts in Washington since 1980, primarily in Yakima and Snohomish counties. In 1999, the Seattle Times reported he was attacked with an axe and underwent surgery as a result, after threatening to kill a man for spilling a beer in a Snohomish County bar.
In response to last week’s felony DUI conviction, Casady’s attorney, Seth D. Conant, immediately filed notice of intent to appeal.
Public Data Ferret is a news knowledge base program of the 501c3 public charity, Public Eye Northwest. Ferret In The News. Donate; subscribe (free)/volunteer.
Guilty plea by Renton pipe bomb suspect, sentencing in May
by Matt Rosenberg April 10th, 2013
A man with 14 prior criminal convictions pled guilty last month in King County Superior Court to a felony charge that came after he left a potentially lethal pipe bomb outdoors on a late June, 2011 day adjacent to the Renton Library and a popular walking path along the Cedar River. He is to be sentenced next month, and was under community supervision of the Washington State Department of Corrections at the time. According to court documents, Nicholas Joel Bailey told Renton Police he bought the materials for the pipe bomb at McLendon’s Hardware in Renton. He carried it around in a backpack for several days. On June 22, 2011 he was walking on the Cedar River Trail near the library and became alarmed when he saw two police cars go by, so he deposited a blue and white sports bag with the pipe bomb in ivy hedges beside the trail near the busy local library and recreation hub.
Washington state near top in 51-year rates of rape, larceny
by Mike Klaczynski January 8th, 2013
Washington ranks near the top, or seventh out of 50 states plus the District of Columbia, in average annual rate of reported forcible rape over the 51 years from 1960 through 2011, according to data extracted from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting database and their 2011 update. Washington’s average annual rate of reported forcible rape over the 51 years was 38.97 per 100,000 population. That was exceeded only by Alaska, Michigan, Washington D.C., New Mexico, and Delaware. Washington was also 5th from the top in rate of reported larceny theft from 1961 through 2011. In terms of the rate of violent crime overall, Washington State was 28th of 51 over the same stretch. These are just a few of a wide variety of findings on all 50 states and the nation that are possible through the new Tableau Software crime data visualization below.
- INSTRUCTIONS
From the data viz below, use the pull-down menu titled “crime category” to double-click on a type of crime – there are 10. From the second pull-down menu, choose a year (with “All” covering 1960 through 2011). You’ll get a custom graph showing the rate per 100,000 population of the given crime in the given year. You can hover over states on the U.S. map below in the bottom frame for quick comparisons, and click on a state in the map to get a custom 51-year graph in the top frame.
- NAVIGATION
The viz resides at the “Crime Map” tab – make sure that is the one selected; “Comments” and “Additional Comments” have technical notes on the data processing by the FBI. To generate copy-and-paste embed code for the viz below, click directly on “share.”
RELATED: “Violent crime, murder rates at all-time lows in Washington,” Public Data Ferret; Crime+Data Visualization archive, Public Data Ferret.
Public Data Ferret is a news knowledge base program of the 501c3 public charity, Public Eye Northwest. Ferret In The News. Donate; subscribe (free)/volunteer.
WA far outpaces U.S. in gun buy background checks
by Matt Rosenberg January 3rd, 2013
New federal data tied to one prominent indicator suggests Washington state is far outpacing neighboring states plus California and the United States in firearms purchases from 1999 through 2012. That’s the number of background checks submitted from federal firearms licensees to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) on behalf of unlicensed buyers, under the federal Brady law. The total from Washington has grown from 133,674 in 1999 to 519,209 in 2012, or 288 percent versus 114 percent nationwide, 66 percent in Oregon, 70 percent in Idaho and 28 percent in California. The data come from updated annual state-by-state and nationwide NICS summaries issued this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (See chart, below).
Violent crime, murder rates at historic lows in Washington
by Matt Rosenberg January 2nd, 2013
The murder rate in Washington state reached a 45-year low of 2.3 per 100,000 population in 2010, and bumped up a scant tenth of a percent in 2011, according to information retrieved from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting database covering 1960 to 2010, and a recently-issued state-by-state update from the bureau. The last year in which the Evergreen State’s murder rate was lower than 2010 was 1965. The rate of total violent crime has also continued to plunge in the state, dropping to a 37-year low of 313.8 per 100,000 in 2010 and then descending further in 2011 to 294.6, according to FBI data. The trend has held in other states and nationwide, even as federal estimates of firearms owned in the U.S. and yearly background checks for new gun purchases have grown markedly from the 1990s through 2012.
ATF Probes Easing Ban On Armor-Piercing Handgun Bullets
by Matt Rosenberg December 20th, 2012
The Sunlight Foundation reports that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is seeking public comment until December 31 on the possibility of loosening regulations stemming from a 1986 federal amendment which restricts the use of armor-piercing bullets in handguns. Body armor such as bullet-proof vests is typically worn by law enforcement personnel. The current law allows an exemption to the ban if the U.S. Attorney General finds the use of particular armor-piercing bullets in a handgun is “primarily intended” for recreational purposes.
The issue had arisen prior to the December 14 mass murder in Newtown, Connecticut, which has propelled a new and urgent national dialog about gun control, semi-automatic weapons, and mental illness. At issue here is that as the firepower of handguns has increased, more are now able to use such ammunition, which is already legally used in rifles if deemed for sport shooting.
An alert to members from the National Rifle Association advances arguments in favor of firming up the “sporting purposes” exemption, to allow for use of “rifle-caliber projectiles made of metals harder than lead” in high-caliber handguns.
The request for comment was published on ATF’s website. An ATF backgrounder found there explains the issue has actually been under review since at least August, 2011. ATF has been holding meetings with law enforcement groups, gun owners and others on the potential exemption.
From www.atf.gov/firearms/industry - 12/20/12
RELATED: Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group
Public Data Ferret is a news knowledge base program of the 501c3 public charity, Public Eye Northwest. Ferret In The News. Donate; subscribe (free)/volunteer.
Washington juvenile arrest rates highest in rural counties
by Matt Rosenberg October 30th, 2012
Overall 2011 juvenile arrest rates in Washington state were highest in rural counties while the state’s most populous and urbanized county, King, was among those with the lowest rates.
The data come from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and is processed by the state’s Statistical Analysis Center. The Center’s Crime Stats Online data hub provides the public with access to the information, which is used in the Office of Financial Management’s annual Washington State Criminal Justice Data Book.
Following are several maps retrieved from the Crime Stats Online data hub, showing juvenile arrest rates by Washington County in 2011, for various types of crimes.
Leading in juvenile arrests per 1,000 population aged 18-39 last year were Adams, Asotin, Benton, Cowlitz, Clark, Douglas, Franklin, Okanagan, Skagit and Walla Walla counties. The rates are calculated according to the metric preferred by law enforcement, which is the number of arrests of juveniles (under 18 years old) for every member of the general population in the same jurisdiction who is between 18 and 39 years old. Here’s that first map, and then four more.