New Mexico has the third-highest violent crime rate and the second-highest property crime rate in the nation, according to recently released FBI crime statistics for 2015.
The numbers also showed a rise in crime in Albuquerque specifically, with a 9.2 percent increase in violent crime and an 11.5 percent rise in property crime in the city.
Christopher Lyons, an associate professor of sociology at UNM, said that when crime statistics are calculated, the main two categories that are examined are violence and theft.
“Typically violence includes homicide, which is the most reliable reported crime, robbery and aggravated assault,” he said. “Property crimes are things like motor vehicle theft, non-aggravated burglary and larceny. Certainly burglary and motor vehicle theft in Albuquerque, New Mexico are high.”
Lyons also emphasized the importance of looking at the underlying causes of high crime rates.
“Usually when you look at what predicts state-level crime rates, most criminologists and sociologists look at socioeconomic factors, and those vary dramatically across the 50 states,” he said.“By socioeconomic factors we mean poverty rates, unemployment rates, education attainment levels and other health outcomes. Those are usually highly correlated with crime rates.”
Lyons warned that not every source of crime data is legitimate, but said that in general, New Mexico does lag behind the rest of the country in some key factors that tend to lead to high crime rates, including teen births, income and overall wealth.
“And drug addiction, particularly in drug deaths, we are 49th,” Lyons said. “On a number of these factors we stand out as a poor, disadvantaged state — and disadvantage is a driver of crime.”
Lyons said, in terms of these socioeconomic factors, it is not too surprising to find that New Mexico would have such a high crime rate.
“It is not the types of people, it’s the social structural conditions under which people live that drive crime,” he said. “Clearly crime drives a lot of other things… crime in turn can influence socioeconomic factors as well, and can lead to population loss.”
Lyons addressed how New Mexico’s label as “dangerous” is not helpful in terms of the overall economy or image of the state.
“Neighborhoods that are labeled, for example the ‘War Zone,’ — which is now called the International District — was obviously not very helpful for trying to stimulate growth and investments,” Lyons said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Another example Lyons described was a time when the television show “Cops” was filmed in Albuquerque. The mayor at the time stopped the filming, and banned the show from returning, because he decided that it was giving the city a “bad name.”
“It is a very problematic factor, and most of that operates through stigma. When we get stigmatized as an unsafe place, who would want to move to Albuquerque if it is so dangerous?” he said.
Alex Alexandra, a graduate student in counseling education, thinks there is something to be learned from New Mexico’s high rankings in crime.
“I know now that we are high in violent crime, but I think that this shows that we have a problem and we need to address it,” she said. “This is something I think UNM needs to acknowledge and start doing something about on their own campus in order to make sure that students are protected and feel safe coming here.”
Alexandra also emphasized New Mexico’s ranking in education as needing improvement.
“I think we should revamp the educational system and make Albuquerque safer,” she said. “Hopefully the word will spread, people will find out and, politically, do something about New Mexico’s crime rate.”
Megan Nyce is a news reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Megznham.
