U.S. 'Murder Capital' a Tricky Figure

June 19, 2009 — -- What's the murder capital of the nation? That depends on who does the counting.

Until this month, that dubious distinction for 2008 fell on Baltimore. But then, Detroit's police department conceded the city had 339 murders in 2008 rather than 306 -- making Detroit the deadliest city in the nation.

The disclosure followed newspaper reports that the city had consistently underreported its murder rate, leading to accusations that Detroit, along with other cities, was gaming the system to make the city appear safer.

"Figures don't lie, but liars sure do figure," former North Carolina Attorney General Rufus Edmisten, who used to announce that state's crime statistics, told ABC with a chuckle.

Was Detroit gaming the numbers to avoid an unpopular title? It's a common practice, Edmisten said.

"You have a lot of numbers manipulated, depending on what you want to achieve," he said. "If you need more help you say how bad things are. On the other hand no public official wants to say we're No. 1 in the number of murders."

According to the FBI, the total number of murders Detroit reported last year is 306. That put Detroit behind Baltimore in per-capita murders, at 36.9 murders per 100,000 residents. But Detroit Police Department spokesman Rod Liggons says that number undercounts the total.

"Three-thirty-nine is our actual number," Liggons, who did not immediately return a call from ABC, told The Baltimore Sun.

The higher number pushes Detroit's rate to 37.4 murders per 100,000 residents, making Detroit the deadliest city with more than 500,000 residents in the nation.

Abbe Smith, director of the Criminal Justice Clinic at Georgetown University Law School, agreed.

"I'd bet you this is highly politicized," Smith told ABC News, "especially that in places like Detroit, that are hard-hit by the recession, would do what they could to interpret the statistics in ways that are not quite so damning."