Detroit is declared as the most dangerous US city
 
In another blow to the Motor City'starnished image, Detroit of Michigan pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.

The study drew harsh criticism even before it came out. The American Society of Criminology launched a pre-emptive strike Friday, issuing a statement attacking it as "an irresponsible misuse¹" of crime data.

The 14th annual "City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan² America" was published by CQ Press, a unit of Congressional Quarterly Inc. It is based on the FBI's Sept. 24 crime statistics report.

The report looked at 378 cities with at least 75,000 people based on per-capita rates for homicide, rape³, robbery, aggravated⁴ assault, burglary and auto⁵ theft. Each crime category was considered separately and weighted based on its seriousness, CQ Press said.

Last year's crime leader, St. Louis, fell to No. 2. Another Michigan city, Flint, ranked third, followed by Oakland Calif.; Camden, N.J.; Birmingham, Ala.; North Charleston, S.C.; Memphis, Tenn.; Richmond, Calif.; and Cleveland.

The study ranked Mission Viejo, Calif., as the safest U.S. city, followed by Clarkstown, N.Y.; Brick Township, N.J.; Amherst, N.Y.; and Sugar Land, Texas.

The study assigns a crime score to each city, with zero representing the national average. Detroit got a score of 407, while St. Louis followed at 406. The score for Mission Viejo, in affluent⁶ Orange County, was minus 82.

据上周日公布的一项最新分析结果显示，美国“汽车城”底特律再次“蒙羞”，这个密歇根州的城市取代圣路易斯，成为美国最危险的城市。这是美国某私人调查机构对联邦调查局公布的年度犯罪数据进行分析后得出的结果。

分析结果还没公布就遭到了猛烈抨击。上周五，美国犯罪学学会先发制人，发表声明谴责这是对犯罪数据“不负责任的滥用”。

第十四次“美国大城市犯罪概况：城市犯罪年度排行榜”由国会季刊公司的分属机构CQ Press发表，该排行主要根据美国联邦调查局9月24日公布的犯罪数据报告编撰而成。

CQ Press发表的分析报告主要考察了人口超过7.5万人的378个城市的犯罪情况，其主要依据包括谋杀、强奸、抢劫、严重袭击、盗窃及汽车盗窃的犯罪率。据CQ Press介绍，每类犯罪都被单独考虑，并根据其严重程度进行评估。

去年犯罪率最高的圣路易斯市今年“跌至”第二；密歇根州的另一个城市弗林特名列第三，其次是加利福尼亚州的奥克兰、新泽西州的卡姆登、阿拉巴马州的伯明翰、南卡罗莱纳州的北查尔斯顿、田纳西州的孟菲斯、加利福尼亚州的里士满，以及克利夫兰。

根据分析结果，加利福尼亚州的米慎维埃为美国最安全的城市，其次是纽约州的克拉克斯顿、新泽西州的布里克、纽约州的阿姆赫斯特以及得克萨斯州的“糖城”。

研究人员给出每个城市的犯罪情况打分，“0”代表全国平均水平。底特律的“犯罪得分”为407分，圣路易斯为406分；“桔子郡”的米慎维埃为负82分。

 
Vocabulary:

tarnish: to detract from or spoil; taint（使失去光泽；受到玷污）

pre-emptive :undertaken or initiated to deter or prevent an anticipated, usually unpleasant situation or occurrence（先发制人的；抢先的）