Monday, September 09, 2013

MI:Justifiable Homicides in Detroit

Interesting that Police Chief Ralph Godbee says  they had 7 times as many cases of justifiable homicide as the the FBI reported.   The FBI has a very strict definition of what a justifiable homicide is, so I am not surprised that the FBI numbers are low.  Gary Kleck, the highly respected criminologist, estimates that the FBI numbers only represent about one fourth to one eighth of the actual totals.   Page 113, Point Blank.

The shooting is one of 12 justifiable homicides in Detroit so far this year, according to police data. The department reported 33 cases in 2011, up from 19 the year before.

Figures for 2011 have not yet been released by the FBI, but Detroit’s self-reported spike exceeds 2010 totals in much larger cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. New York City did not report 2010 numbers.

Police Chief Ralph Godbee said the year-to-year jump is misleading. He said Detroit had 35 cases in 2008, although the FBI only has five on record for the city that year.

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