A year without murder

Courtney Keeton
IGS 233B
10th Blog
Crime
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=82f40c3e-97e0-4f50-8b2a-85d1d5832f37&k=84380
This week, my story comes from the Canadian province of Quebec where they have good news, but don’t want to celebrate. For the first time in 45 years, on October 31, Quebec will be able to say that they have not had a murder in a year.
Quebec has always been known to have a relatively low crime rate and it can also boast the fact that it has the lowest homicide rate in the country, too. However, the city’s officials aren’t bragging and are just as surprised, if not more, than people outside the city. They are calling it “a stroke of luck.” This may be because although homicide is nonexistent as of yet, the city is not really any safer than it was this time last year. This may be due to the fact that violent crimes, including sexual and aggravated assault are on the rise.
A criminologist stated that there was really no reason to focus on the statistics for the last year. He goes on to say that in order to get a glimpse at the real statistics, they cannot focus on the decrease in one type of crime while others go up. It’s not accurate and to be able to attain those results, an ongoing study must be done to get the correct data. Basically, as the criminologist stated, they [the citizens and officials of Quebec city] should be happy and enjoy the luck while they have it.