Editing Phoenix, Arizona (section)

===Crime===
[[File:Arizona State Capitol Executive Tower DSC 2708 ad.JPG|thumb|Arizona State Capitol Executive Tower at 1700 W. Washington St.]]
{{Main|Crime in Phoenix}}

By the 1960s, crime was a major problem in Phoenix, and by the 1970s, crime continued to increase in the city at a faster rate than almost anywhere else in the country.{{sfn|VanderMeer|2010|p=252}} It was during this time frame when an incident occurred in Phoenix which would have national implications. On March 16, 1963, [[Ernesto Miranda]] was arrested and charged with rape. The subsequent Supreme Court ruling on June 13, 1966, ''[[Miranda v. Arizona]]'', has led to practice in the United States of issuing a [[Miranda warning|Miranda Warning]] to all suspected criminals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mirandawarning.org/historyofmirandawarning.html |title=History of Miranda Warning |publisher=mirandawarning.org |access-date=April 4, 2014}}</ref>

With Phoenix's rapid growth, one of the prime areas of criminal activity was land fraud. The practice became so widespread that newspapers would refer to Phoenix as ''the Tainted Desert''.{{sfn|VanderMeer|2010|pp=252–253}} These land frauds led to one of the more infamous murders in the history of the valley, when ''Arizona Republic'' writer [[Don Bolles]] was murdered by a car bomb in 1976.{{sfn|VanderMeer|2010|p=253}}{{sfn|Luckingham|1995|pp=211–212}} It was believed his investigative reporting on organized crime and land fraud in Phoenix made him a target.<ref name=AZCentral1>{{cite web |url=http://archive.azcentral.com/specials/special01/articles/0528bolles-overview.html |title=Journalism students revisit the death of Don Bolles |publisher=Arizona Republic/azcentral.com |date=March 28, 2006 |access-date=April 4, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140404185249/http://archive.azcentral.com/specials/special01/articles/0528bolles-overview.html |archive-date=April 4, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1993-02-10/news/the-bolles-trial-goes-into-reruns/full |title=The Bolles Trial Goes Into Reruns |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Tom |date=February 10, 1993 |website=Phoenix New Times |access-date=April 4, 2014 |archive-date=June 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627180127/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1993-02-10/news/the-bolles-trial-goes-into-reruns/full |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=bolles>{{cite web |url=http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special01/0528bolles-keyplayers.html |title=Key players in the Bolles' case |publisher=Arizona Republic/azcentral.com |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref>
Bolles was the only reporter from a major U.S. newspaper to be murdered on U.S. soil due to his coverage of a story.<ref name=AZCentral1/> Max Dunlap was convicted of first-degree murder in the case.<ref name=bolles />

Street gangs and the drug trade had turned into public safety issues by the 1980s, and the crime rate in Phoenix continued to grow.{{sfn|VanderMeer|2010|p=323}}
After seeing a peak in the early and mid-1990s, the city has seen a general decrease in crime rates. The Maricopa County Jail system is the fourth-largest in the country.<ref>{{cite web |title=Annual Report |url=https://www.mcso.org/documents/AnnualReport.pdf |publisher=Maricopa County Sheriff's Office |access-date=December 26, 2018 |page=42 |date=December 31, 2017 |archive-date=December 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227040915/https://www.mcso.org/documents/AnnualReport.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The violent crime rate peaked in 1993 at 1146 crimes per 100,000 people, while the property crime rate peaked a few years earlier, in 1989, at 9,966 crimes per 100,000.<ref name=fbi>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/Local/RunCrimeJurisbyJurisLarge.cfm |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160516072620/http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/Local/RunCrimeJurisbyJurisLarge.cfm |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 16, 2016 |title=Uniform Crime Reports |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date=March 21, 2016 }}</ref>

In 2001 and 2002, Phoenix ranked first in the nation in vehicle thefts, with over 22,000 and 25,000 cars stolen each year respectively.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.888notheft.com/888main/pages/III%20-%20Auto%20Theft%20is%20up!.htm |title=Auto Theft, Key Facts |publisher=Insurance Information Institute |access-date=February 19, 2014 |date=June 2002}}</ref> It has declined every year since then, eventually falling to 7,200 in 2014, a drop of almost 70% during that timeframe.<ref name="fbi2014">{{cite web |title=2014 Crime in the United States: Arizona |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-8/table-8-by-state/Table_8_Offenses_Known_to_Law_Enforcement_by_Arizona_by_City_2014.xls |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328050652/https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2014/crime-in-the-u.s.-2014/tables/table-8/table-8-by-state/Table_8_Offenses_Known_to_Law_Enforcement_by_Arizona_by_City_2014.xls |archive-date=March 28, 2016 |access-date=March 21, 2016 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}</ref> The Phoenix MSA has dropped to 70th in the nation in terms of car thefts in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nicb.org/theft_and_fraud_awareness/top-places-for-vehicle-thefts |title=Hot Spots 2012 |publisher=NICB |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref>

On August 2, 2022, [[2022 Phoenix shooting|a mass shooting]] took place in the [[Deer Valley, Phoenix|Deer Valley]] area of Phoenix. The shooter killed two bystanders and injured five others before committing [[suicide]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-29 |title=A gunman clad in tactical gear and armed with a semi-automatic rifle killed 2 and injured 5 others in Phoenix shooting, police say |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/29/us/phoenix-shooting-gunman-tactical-gear-rifle/index.html |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>