New Mexico
New Mexico has been considered the most dangerous state to live in. Their violent crime ratio is 9.0 per 1000 residents. Their property crime is 32 per 1000 residents. There are a few reasons why this number is so high, the main reason being the justice system. I read articles saying that criminals are in and out of jail all the time due to the low sentencing. They call the jail system the revolving door due to the fact how fast these criminals are back on the streets. It is also considered a very poor state with the poverty rate being around 17.6%. This has been considered one of the poorest states in the United States since 2000. The economy in New Mexico is hard to grow due to its many underlying issues. I feel that it's also important to note that the State also comes in dead last out of all the states when it comes to quality of life. On top of everything else, they have a serious drug problem and actually come in number 6th for drug-related deaths. I guess when you combine all of this it's no wonder the crime rate is high and the economy is struggling to grow. As of recently, they have been doing better for economic growth but with their ongoing issues it makes it hard for me to believe that they will turn their whole state around until they handle their other issues first. Starting with the justice system because with a better justice system, they can make criminals feel more nervous and this in itself can drop the crime rate and lower the drug rate. The crime rate has such a big impact on economic growth and it seems that some people don't acknowledge it. Take Chicago for example, it's a big market for business but the crime rate is so bad that it causes issues for everyone and increases the cost of protection. I mean I guess that would be a gold mine for insurance agencies.
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I haven't been there myself, but I've read some media set in the state and apparently there's a lot of poverty across that entire region of the country, which exacerbates the crime problem. While reading about an upward trend in economic strength is good, I also agree with you that that isn't a long term sustainable happening since without a consistent way to address the poverty, at best you're likely to have a smaller population of more-wealthy people in secluded sections of the state, and a larger group of economically-disadvantaged people suffering everywhere else. This leads to the drug and crime problems that are reported and raise the insurance rates for everyone else.
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