Florida's Deadly Sins

by Thayesha Lewin

In 2009, a team of geographers at Kansas State University decided to map the United States in a way that only God and the devil knew before. They measured the distribution of the seven deadly sins. Greed, wrath, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony and pride where calculated using per capita statistics for each county in every state. The geographers created a US map that rated all state counties from “Saintly” to downright “Devilish,” coloring them dark green to a deep burgundy, respectively. Florida was not painted in saintly green on any of the sin maps, unless you count an anomalous splatter of greedlessness in the center of the Panhandle. However, for the sins of greed, envy and wrath, Florida was as crimson as the velvet fabric on a church pew.

The purest states of the country are, ironically, seldom from within the Bible Belt. They are in the Plains, Rocky Mountains and upper Southeast of the United States: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, Illinois, Kentucky and West Virginia. What is it about Florida life that differs from the fairer states? What creates such ripe conditions here for wayward souls?

Florida’s greed, calculated by the average income compared with the number of people living below the poverty line, was most prominent in the lower part of the state, skipping over the Panhandle. Envy, the total property crimes which include robbery, burglary, larceny and grand theft auto per capita, and wrath, the measure of the violent crimes of murder, rape and assault per capita, has engulfed our state 

completely.

GREED

Florida’s per capita personal income for the year 2009 was $38,945, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce.  And, according to StateHealthFacts.org, a website run by the Kaiser Family Foundation, there was about 2.7 million Floridians living in poverty. The state of Montana had a similar average income at $35,010 and yet had only 131,000 of its citizens living below the poverty line. The fact that the average income in Florida remains high despite millions living in poverty demonstrates the presence of extreme wealth.

ENVY

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported a total of 742,025 property crimes for 2009, meaning that for every 25 persons, one robbery, burglary, larceny or motor vehicle theft crime occurred. Compare that to North Dakota which saw one property crime per 55 people, more than two times less likely than in Florida.

WRATH

In 2009, Florida was the stage for 1,017 murders, 10,227 rapes and 71,290 assaults, totaling 82,534 violent crimes last year. One in every 225 Floridians was a victim of a violent crime. Cool and collected Kentuckians only saw violent crime occur for one in every 573 people.

Speculations

Could it be that because Florida is more metropolitan than the “saintly” states, it experiences more crime? A more densely populated state means citizens interact with more strangers, which gives criminals more potential victims within close proximity.

Is warm weather a catalyst for delinquency? Warm weather brings more people out of their homes, onto the streets, and into trouble. As many Floridians know, high heat is an irritant. Rising temperatures might correlate with a quickened temper that could lead to an increase in crimes of passion. 

Florida’s state government tax collection per capita was $1,724, according to StateHealthFacts.org. That figure is one of the lowest in the country. Florida is also one of only seven states that do not impose a state income tax, attracting both the well-off and the down-and-out, which might have created the large discrepancy between the rich and the poor in Florida.

It is difficult to pinpoint one single cause of high rates of property and violent crimes and large income disparities in Florida. Two educators at the University of South Florida have their theories.

Educated Opinions

“I am much more focused on the crimes of the wealthy that aren’t called 'crimes' than those of the powerless and poor,” said Jennifer Friedman, an associate professor of sociology at USF. “Perhaps, if we had a more equitable system, the poor would have less reason to find ways to squander an existence.  I suggest that you take a look at all of the ways that the rich get richer by exploiting the poor.”

Friedman pointed to Florida politicians, the irresponsibility of the BP oil spill disaster and the environmental wreckage by the sugarcane industry in the Everglades as examples.

“I think it is the education level,” said political science professor John Bertalan.

Bertalan experienced a culture shock when he moved from New Jersey to teach social studies at Driftwood Middle School in Hollywood, Fla.

“When I first came to Florida and was given a sixth-grade class, it was like going into a third-grade class in New Jersey. The dropout rate [in Florida] is unbelievable and the 12^th-grade test here is actually on the ninth-grade level.” 

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Despite Florida’s infamy, if sin rates, or crime rates, rather, are put into perspective, there has been a steady decline in crime in the United States over the last couple decades according to the 2009 Crime in the United States report completed by the FBI. From 2008 to 2009 alone, the violent crime rate decreased 6.1 percent and the property crime rate fell 4.6 percent.

Although its rates are higher than most states for the sins of greed, wrath and envy, Florida has been experiencing a steady baptism, cleansing the state of its citizen’s transgressions.