New York’s simple assault had over 57,000 incidents

A new study has revealed New York’s most violent crimes, with simple assault accounting for 57,641 incidents.

 The research, conducted by personal injury lawyers DeMayo Law Office, used data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to find which violent crimes were most prevalent in each state. The crimes were examined over a five-year period between 2018 and 2022, and local police in each state provided this data at their discretion.

  New York recorded a total of 75,775 violent crimes over a span of five years. Their most violent crime is simple assault, with 57,641 incidents over this same period – this accounts for 76% of all recorded violent crimes in the state.

 In terms of age, 30-year-olds committed the most simple assault crimes. This age range was recorded to have committed 2,480 simple assaults between 2018 and 2022, while those aged 50 had committed the most murders and non-negligent manslaughter, with 211 over the same period of time.

In addition to examining how much violent crime was committed in each state, the study also analyzed on a national level the demographics of both offenders and victims, as well as the locations of these incidents.

Across America, the most common age for violent crime offending was found to be 25, with 698,368 offenses. On the other hand, victims of violent crime were most commonly 21 years old, compared to any other age group.

Individuals were most likely to become victims of violent crime in their own place of residence, accounting for 10,611,584 recorded incidents.

The difference in gender for offenders was striking, with male perpetrators committing a total of 13,585,473 violent crimes over the five year period. While female offenders committed 6,276,704 – a 53% decrease compared to male offenders.

Tracking the rate of violent crime in states is crucial to understand societal well-being.

As the DeMayo Law firm report concluded: “High rates of violent crime can indicate areas where residents are at greater risk, impacting their sense of security and overall quality of life, as well as restricting their freedom of movement and discourage participation in community activities.

“Not only this, but a high crime rate can also influence real estate values, increase healthcare costs to victims and families, and discourage tourists and new businesses from coming to that state.

“Analyzing changes in crime rates over time can reveal patterns, such as seasonal spikes or long-term trends, which can guide preventive measures, and help to adopt effective strategies and policies to lower the risk of more crime in the future.”

Workplace drug tests

The percentage of employees in the general U.S. workforce whose drug tests showed signs of tampering increased by more than six-fold in 2023 compared with the prior year and was the highest in more than 30 years of annual reporting, workplace drug testing company Quest Diagnostics reported Wednesday.

In analyzing 9.8 million workforce drug tests, company researchers found evidence of tampering  “in an attempt to conceal drug use” that included a 633% increase in substituted urine and a 45.2% increase in invalid urine specimens.

According to Quest, the increasing rates of substituted or invalid specimens coincided with “historically high” rates of both general U.S. workforce drug positivity and post-accident marijuana positivity.

Drug positivity in the general U.S. workforce was 5.7% in both 2022 and 2023. This marked the highest level in more than two decades, up more than 30% from the low of 3.5% in 2010-2012.

Quest also reported a 114.3% increase in post-accident positivity between 2015 and 2023 in the general U.S. workforce.

AI Targets WC Claims

Clara Analytics Inc., a Sunnyvale, California-based developer of artificial intelligence technology for the insurance industry, said Tuesday it has released Clara Fraud, a platform that works to increase visibility into suspicious workers compensation claims.

The AI product helps claims professionals uncover fraudulent activity and provides alerts to enable insurers to more easily refer suspicious claims for investigation, according to the company.

Clara Fraud analyzes factors including servicing locations, claimants having multiple claims open simultaneously, attorneys working similar cases and exaggerated workers comp claims.

The company said the product examines detailed claims documents to try to uncover suspicious fraud markers using supervised and unsupervised learning to enhance accuracy.

and “great” behavior…..

Dave North, executive chairman of Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc., will receive the 2024 Business Insurance Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding accomplishments in the claims, insurance and risk management sector.

He will accept the award during the Business Insurance U.S. Insurance Awards on July 18 in New York.

 Mr. North began his career in the insurance industry in 1978 as a fire protection engineer at Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co., after serving as a volunteer firefighter in Detroit and in the U.S. Air Force.

After working at various other claims and risk consulting companies, he joined Sedgwick as president and CEO in 1995 and was named executive chairman in 2020. During his time at Sedgwick, where he led it through numerous acquisitions, the company grew from the 8th-largest third-party claims administrator with $70 million in gross revenue and 5,000 staff in 1995 to the world’s largest TPA with more than $4 billion in revenue and more than 30,000 staff.

Last month, Sedgwick announced Mr. North would retire on June 30 but remain on its board of directors.

The Business Insurance Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the risk management sector over the course of their careers. Recipients are selected by the editorial staff.

All the honorees are entered into the Business Insurance Hall of Fame. Past recipients include: 2023, Alan Jay Kaufman, chairman president and CEO of H.W. Kaufman Group; 2022, J. Patrick Gallagher, chairman, president and CEO of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.; 2021, Brian Duperreault, retired CEO of American International Group Inc.; 2020, Kevin H. Kelley, retired vice chairman of Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.’s Global Risk Solutions business; 2019, Martin P. Hughes, executive chairman of Hub International Ltd.; 2018, Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co. Inc.; and 2017, Patrick G. Ryan, chairman and CEO of Ryan Specialty Holdings Inc.

CONGRATULATIONS, DAVE.

SA