U.S. cities that made the world’s 50 most violent list

U.S. cities that made the world’s 50 most violent list

Detroit Police Chief James Craig

By Yvette

When we think of the most violent cities in the world, the minds of many Americans normally fixate on impoverished Third World areas. However, as new data indicates, some of the most violent places in the world are right here in America.

Latin America has more cities on the list than any other country, with San Pedro Sula, Honduras taking the dubious number one spot as the murder capital of the world with 187 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2013.

Here are the top 10 most violent cities:

1. San Pedro Sula, Honduras; 2. Caracas, Venezuela; 3. Acapulco, Mexico; 4. Cali, Colombia; 5. Maceió, Brazil; 6. Distrito Central; 7. Fortaleza, Brazil; 8. Guatemala City, Guatemala; 9. João Pessoa, Brazil and 10. Barquisimeto, Venezuela

Among the US cities that made the list were Detroit at No. 24 and New Orleans at No. 26. Baltimore is number 36, with about 38 homicides per every 100,000 residents. St. Louis comes in at number 45.

Detroit’s Police Chief made national news when he encouraged citizens to buy guns as a way of avoiding crime.

“This is not about inciting vigilantism, because in my view when you talk about vigilantism, you’re talking about someone who has made a decision to do law enforcement’s job — go out and enforce the law,” Craig is quoted as saying in an NRA magazine article. “This is not that at all. This is about self-defense, protection, an imminent threat to life, very different response.”

At a previous event, Craig also described how he himself narrowly escaped a carjacking. In explaining that crime had got down in the city, Craig credited armed citizens with the reduction.

Poverty, plus easy access to guns, is a perfect recipe for violence and as income inequality in America grows, we may witness even more additions to this list.