The Little-Studied Link Between 'Murder Capitals' and Population Decline

The term "murder capital" deserves more than side-eye: It begs to be discarded for good. Simply chalking up the number of homicides, as the public does every fall when the FBI releases its Uniform Crime Reporting figures, leads to an explosion in meaningless conclusions about crime. Here's one: Chicago has reported the highest number of murders over the last few years, leading many to dub it the U.S. murder capital. Yet the per capita murder rate in Flint, Michigan, and about 20 other cities, ranks much higher.

Any comparison of so-called "murder capitals" deserves an asterisk given the notoriously unreliable and unevenly reported nature of homicide statistics. Earlier this year, Chicago magazine ran a two-part investigation that looked at how murders disappear from the books in Chicago. One example happened just last week: Chicago police won't count the July 9 slaying of Jasmine Curry toward its 2014 homicides tally because she was shot and killed on a state highway.