Editor's note
Jerry King, Co-President of Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence, returns this week to the Who Gets What? podcast. He provides a refreshed view of one of America’s leading problems…not guns, but access to guns by those ill-equipped to manage them. Hear it all at Who Gets What? on mortonjohn.libsyn.com.
In 2024, last year, for those who, like me, are repeatedly forgetful, the FBI has now reported that, nationwide, murder was down by 14.9%, robbery down 8.9%, rape down 5.2%, and aggravated assault down by 3.0%. In sum, Violent crime fell by 4.5%.

Indiana experienced a decline in homicide of 8.1%, robbery down 16.3%, rape down 7.1%, and aggravated assault off by 9.7%. In each component of violent crime, Indiana’s decline was greater than that of the nation.

Who commits crimes? Nationally, men were 72% of the offenders. Whites were the offenders in 58% of the incidents. How old were these offenders? The majority (52.7%) were between the ages of 16 and 35. But there were some variations as we move through the categories of criminal behavior.

[It should be noted that there is a disparity in the use of the term “offender”. The FBI reports on offenders, but I found no indication whether these are persons charged with an offense or convicted of an offense. Given the backlog of criminal cases, I suspect these data refer to persons charged with an offense.]

There are numerous ways to determine crime rates. The simplest way is to compare the prevalence of a crime with the population of the place where it took place. Match up the crimes in Peru or North Judson with the population in those places. Alternatively, one can use adjustments for characteristics of the population (age, sex, race, eye color, employment status, income, immigration status, education, political affiliation, place of birth, etc.)

When we divide the total reported crimes (against persons and property), by 10,000 persons, Indiana had 245 while the U.S. had 256. By this metric, Evansville (488), Indianapolis (421), Terre Haute (398), Hammond (381), and Elkhart (359) made up the top 5 cities in crimes.

The town reporting no crimes was Chrisney (0), just off US 231 in northeastern Spencer County, a place with 469 persons. Others in the placid, bottom five places, ranked by crimes per 10,000, were Pendleton (8 in the home of a state prison), Columbus (10 in a town that prides itself for civility), St. John (15 in a fast growing Lake Co. escape from further north and west) and Porter (21 in a small Porter Co. alternative to more expensive towns in the same county.

The Governor’s home town of Jasper (not to be confused with a county of the same name) ranked 79th of the 113 places in the state, with 73 crimes reported per 10,000 persons. That’s safely in the bottom third of all Hoosier crime-rated places. Maybe this listing, available from either the author or the FBI, will help guide a future deployment of Indiana’s national guard.
Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers, and his views can be followed his podcast.

© 2025 Morton J. Marcus

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