Study: Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont are the three most peaceful (non-violent) states in the Union

Malcolm Pollack writes:

I thought you might find this survey reported in the Boston Globe interesting. It’s kind of shocking, though; I can’t imagine what might account for it.

LA replies:

Well, here’s a factor not mentioned in the Globe. Maybe it has something to do with this mysterious finding. Maine is 98 percent white; New Hampshire is 97.5 percent white; and Vermont is 98 percent white.

Here is the article:

Survey: Maine, NH, Vermont most peaceful

April 6, 2011

PORTLAND, Maine—While U.S. military forces continue to be engaged in conflicts abroad, a survey of the home front by an international think tank finds that U.S. states have become more peaceful since 1995.

In a report released Wednesday, the Institute for Economics and Peace says Maine is the most peaceful state, while Louisiana is the least peaceful.

The Institute for Economics and Peace says key factors driving an increase in peacefulness are decreases in homicides and violent crimes. It says that reductions in crime pay dividends, reducing costs to society and also spurring economic activity and job creation.

The Australia-based organization defines peace as an absence of violence. The top three states are Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Joining Louisiana at the bottom are Nevada and Tennessee.

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John Hagan writes:

Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont are the three most contiguous white states in the nation. Many people move here to escape diversity, though you will not often hear that sentiment voiced in public, but rest assured that it’s a robust topic in private.

As wonderful as it is in northern New England, the larger cities are starting to get an influx of minority groups along with refugee resettlements courtesy of the Lutheran Church and Catholic Charities, who think nothing of dumping people from Africa with stone age level skills in the middle of Portland Maine, Manchester, New Hampshire and Burlington Vermont.

Still, for anyone who wants to escape the madness of diversity, northern New England offers a unique quality of life that is fast fading away in the United States.

April 8

D. in Seattle writes:

James P. said: “The state rankings are interesting, but I suspect that a more definite link to race could be found using county-based studies.”

I was thinking the same thing. For example, I wish there were detailed demographic and crime data for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but the only info I was able to find is that most of the population is of Nordic ancestry (Finnish, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), with some English, Irish, Germans, and French-Canadians. There are only about 320,000 people in 15 counties, on 16,500 square miles, an area larger than Massachusetts and Connecticut combined, which together have 10 million people. I would expect that Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is very comparable in terms of peacefulness to the three New England states from the study. It’s just so darn cold in winter and some areas routinely get more than 200 inches of snow. Beautiful scenery, though.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 06, 2011 04:58 PM | Send