Criminology

Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest city in the United States. According to 2009 census, the city had a population of approximately 2.2 million people and the city occupies a space of 600 square miles. Houston is a multi-cultural state due to the fact that the city is a host to many academic institutions and many industries. Houston city has large number of young population and this has been contributed to by an influx of immigrants in the state. More than 90 languages are spoken in Houston (Miller, and Larry, 2008)

The city is ranked third among the cities with large number of Hispanics and Mexican-American in the United States. The city scores high number of Hispanics in the state of Texas. The city also has high numbers of illegal emigrants who mostly reside in the Greater Houston area. Houston has the largest number of Nigerian-American population in United States and they constitute more than 2 of the population.

The city a median household income of 36,616 where as the median income for a family is 40,443.females have a median income of 27,371 while men has a median of 32,084. 16 percent of families and 19 percent of the population live below the poverty line. The city is home to many emigrants from Asia with more than 30,000 emigrants in 2007.

Crime in Houston increases as one goes to the outer highways. It is therefore advised that people walk with care when taking highways in the outskirts of the city since harassment tend to be more common in areas that are outlining Interstate Highway 45from Southern Beltway to the northern belt. Crimes in these areas include shootings, muggings, and robberies. Many people in Houston tend to ignore threats but people are mostly advised that some to accomplish their threats.

The most notorious district that people are advised to avoid is the Westchase which consist of Hillcroft past Westheimer and Daury Ashford. Mission Bend is safe and all is required is caution. Richmond and the West Oaks area hwy 6 all the way to 1 Stebner Airline is generally safe (Miller, and Larry, 2008). Staying in Hotels near Williowbrook, Tombal, Cy-Fair, Spring and the surrounding area is relatively safer since there are fewer panhandlers as compared to areas around Galleria.

Bellaire and West University are also good areas but people are advised to avoid Beechnut, Chimney Rock and 610. The more one moves from town, the it becomes risky to walk at night. Areas such as Wards, Gulfton, Fondren South West and Sharptown are risky at night and it even advised to walk with caution during the day.

Houston was ranked 46th city in United States in murder cases as per 2005 and the rate of murder per capita rate is 16.3. The murder rate for the city is ranked third among cities in the United States with a population of more than 1,000,000. Even though cases of murder have been on the increase, non-violent crimes have significantly reduced by 2 in 2005. Some media sources have attributed the increasing crime rate on the aftermaths of Katrina.

Houston is also one of the major drug hubs in the United States traffickers use the city to supply marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and MDMA to distributors in other cities in the United States. Houston is in top position in state of Texas in auto-theft. In 2007 alone, 31,000 motor vehicles were stolen in the metropolitan area of Houston (Wallman, 2006)

Due to the mix in population in the city, there is high rate of crimes and this has given the police department to control crime. Illegal emigrants in Houston makes crime rates hard to control.