Full Text: The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006

BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) — The Information Office of the State Council published a document titled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006" here on Thursday. Following is the full text:

On March 6, the U.S. Department of State released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006. As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights conditions in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but avoided touching on the human rights situation in the United States. To help the world people have a better understanding of the situation in the United States and promote the international cause of human rights, we hereby publish the Human Rights Record of the United States in 2006.

　　I. On Life, Property and Security of Person 　　

The life, property and personal security of people of the United States are affected by rampant violent crimes.

The U.S. Justice Department reported on Sept. 10, 2006 that there were 5.2 million violent crimes in the United States in 2005,up 2.5 percent from the previous year, the highest rate in 15 years. Statistics released by the U.S. Justice Department in 2006 showed that in 2005 American residents age 12 or above experienced23 million crimes; for every 1,000 persons age 12 or older, there occurred 1 rape or sexual assault, 1 assault with injury, and 3 robberies.
(Bureau of Justice Statistics Criminal Victimization, in: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.)

Murder, robbery and other violent crimes reported in the United States jumped 3.7 percent in the first half of 2006 over the same period in 2005, with robbery alone up by a starling 9.7 percent.

Murders that occurred in cities with population of between 500,000 and 1 million in the same period were up by 8.4 percent year on year.
(FBI: Violent Crimes up in 1st Half of ’06. MSNBC.com, December 19, 2006. in: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11497293 .)

In the first half of 2006 murder was up a whopping 27.5 percent in Boston.

In Memphis murder increased 43 percent in 2006.

In Cincinnati murder was up 19 percent in the first six months of 2006.

Robbery increases for the first half of 2006 across the United States were stunning:

Rochester, N.Y., up 47 percent; suburban Montgomery County, Md., up 37 percent; Minneapolis up 36.8 percent. (Startling New Stats Show Cross-Country Crime Spike.

ABC News, October 12, 2006.) From January 1 to Dec. 10, there were 384 slayings in Philadelphia, and the number exceeded the total toll of victims in 2005.
(City Effort Needs to Grow. Editorial, Philadelphia Inquirer, December 12, 2006.) During the first 11 months in 2006, 147 murders were reported in New Orleans.

That means the new Orleanians were murdering each other at a rate of 73.5 murders per 100,000 residents, exceeding that of the nation’s most murderous city Compton, California, whose rate was 67 murders per 100,000 people in 2005. (Crime Takes Hold of New Orleans.

USA TODAY, December 1, 2006.) Orlando, Florida, reported 42 murders in the first 10 months in 2006, nearly double the 22 slayings last year in the city of 200,000 people.
(USA TODAY, November 1, 2006)

And in Washington, police department declared a crime emergency and a 10 p.m. curfew for juveniles in July 2006, after the city had 11 homicides in 13 days.
(Police Chiefs Cite Youths in Crime Rise, Call for More Federal Funds.
The Washington Post, August 31, 2006.)

The Washington Post reported on December 14, 2006 that there had been 35 bank robberies in Montgomery County in 2006, with three banks robbed on Dec. 13 within minutes of each other.

This continues for seven more pages:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/08/content_5817027.htm

Land of the free? I don’t quite think so, and nor do the Chinese.