by Rocco Parascandola and Bill Sanderson
New York Daily News
April 17, 2023

Before Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan gavels into order a House Judiciary Committee hearing Monday aimed at shaming New York City’s crime problem, he might consider a deep look at the far higher murder rates of his home state.

Ohioans are more likely to die from gun violence than New Yorkers — and the state’s overall murder rate far exceeds that of New York City and of Manhattan alone, a Daily News analysis of federal Centers for Disease Control data shows.

… Data showing Jordan and other Ohioans that their state is more dangerous on a per capita basis than New York City probably won’t change any minds, said Jeffrey Butts, a research professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Jordan’s effort to convince his constituents that New York is a crime-ridden center of chaos will be helped simply because the city’s big population means it has more crime than a small town, Butts said.

“It’s also true of cancer and teenage heartbreak — there’s much more of it in New York than Dublin, Ohio,” he said. “That’s because there are just so many people here.”

“It’s a constant struggle to penetrate all the noise and the confusion,” Butts added, “because people will believe what they want to believe.”

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