Crime Statistics for Honolulu, Hawaii

Abstract or Introduction

While it remains evident that Hawaii has been regarded as one of the safest states in the US; characterized by low violent crime rate, different studies have demonstrated that some time back, this state continued to have one of the highest total crime rates, mainly because of high property crime rates. However, in accordance with recent reports by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), there has been a considerable decrease in the violent crime rate ever since its early 1990s crest (Pyrooz et al, 2016). Hawaii has in the past years been observed to attract a great number of people wanting to relocate and begin a new life; some of the determinants behind this relocation being high crime rates in their former states and widespread poverty, plus Hawaii’s high concentration of cultural and entertainment attractions, affordable housing and low unemployment.

Generally, Hawaii currently stands as the 38th most dangerous state, when it comes to violent crime such as murder, robbery, rape and aggravated assault. Unlike in many other states in the US, which measure crime rates by city, Hawaii is known to collect its crime data county by county. In a 2016 report, referred as the Crime in Hawaii, which was published by the state Attorney General’s office, it was noted that Honolulu County accounted for a significant 69.8% of the state’s population and approximately the same percentage of crime. Of all the crimes in 2015, property crimes accounted for 92.7% while violent crimes accounted for 7.3% (Pyrooz et al, 2016).

Moreover, of the violent crimes that were reported in 2015, aggravated assault accounted for 49.6%, robbery accounting for 36.8% and rape accounted for 13% while murder accounted only for 0.6% (Pyrooz et al, 2016). The murder rate in the year 2015 was the lowest in the entire state, with only fifteen murder cases reported. Imperatively, property crime rate has been going down almost every year since the 26.1% in 2006. While the city enjoys a low-crime state in regard to violence, of all the index offenses, larceny has remained the only offense that the city has consistently had a higher crime rate compared with the entire nation ever since 1975 (Dillon, 2014). Furthermore, burglary and auto theft rates have sometimes been lower and sometimes higher compared with the national average. The burglary rate of the City and County of Honolulu measured the lowest in Hawaii and even the lowest in the entire nation.