With less than three months before the end of the year, here is an update on killings in Hudson County in New Jersey compared with numbers from Essex County in New Jersey and New York County in New York. All homicide rates are per 100,000: 

Jersey City, New Jersey is located in Hudson County

So far this year, 20% of the dead in Hudson County’s 35 killings have been children: Seven children died murdered in nine months. 28 of those 35 Hudson County killings, up from 24 of 35 a year ago, belong to Jersey City alone. Hudson County’s homicide rate is currently 5.74. Over 600,000 live in Hudson County. Over 240,000 live in Jersey City and the homicide rate is 11.66 right now in the dawn of the dimming days for 2005.

New York City, New York is its own County

In 2004, New York City had a homicide rate of 7.4 in 2004 with 570 homicides across 8 million residents. Newark, New Jersey is located in Essex County In 2004, Essex County’s killing rate was 17.6 with 140 homicides over 790,000 people. The King of Killings in 2004 was the City of Newark logging in at a whopping 32.9 rate with 90 homicides along a population of 273,000.

UPDATE ON THE SHAFT BABY:

The newborn infant who cracked his skull when was thrown 31 feet from an apartment window into an air shaft is now three weeks old. He was released to the custody of the New Jersey state Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS). DYFS is looking to place him with a foster family that has special training in dealing with injured infants. The mother of the mother that threw away the baby will not be considered for custody even though DYFS tries to first place children with their own families.

The infant, a product of incest between father and daughter, had a sister whose newborn remains were found mummified beneath a year’s worth of rubble in the same air shaft. Lucila, the 18-year-old mother of both infants, is currently in a psychiatric facility and is charged with murder, attempted murder and assault. Lucila’s father, and both father and grandfather of her two children, is in jail charged only with sexual assault.

6 Comments

  1. Well it rained for a week and robberies went down. The bad don’t like to get wet. Lets hope for the next two months they don’t like to get cold either.

  3. Hi Joe!
    I much prefer “murder” over “homicide.” It better suggests the darker horror of the event. When you get official government reports, however, the term “homicide” is the preferred over “murder.”

  4. Heya soos!
    I agree the numbers are depressing. I spent a lot of time in Newark. I knew it was a rough town. I didn’t know precisely how deadly it was, though. I agree the father needs higher charging and the daughter lesser. That all may happen as the real story of what really happen begins to emerge from the dark.

  5. Yes, suzanne, I find it curious that the father/grandfather is so lightly charged right now. Usually prosecutors ramp up the charges early for publicity and negotiation — the fact the father/grandfather hasn’t been charged with murder perhaps suggests there may be more culpability for the mother/daughter in the murders than we know on the surface.

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