
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 31, 1994                   TAG: 9401310054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LAWRENCE, KAN.                                LENGTH: Short

LOUISIANA, MARYLAND RANKED MOST DANGEROUS

Louisiana and Maryland are the country's "Most Dangerous States" according to a ranking of states based on key crime statistics compiled by a Kansas publishing company.

Maryland was ranked the second most dangerous state, followed by Texas, Illinois and Florida. Rounding out the top 10 were California, Nevada, New York, Arizona and South Carolina.

Virginia was ranked 38th.

At the opposite end of the scale, Vermont was found to be the safest of the 50 states, according to "Crime State Rankings 1994," a 459-page book published this weekend by Morgan Quitno Corp. of Lawrence.

Scott Morgan, president of the publishing company, said the rankings are based on 16 factors, including overall state crime rates, juvenile crime statistics, crime clearances, police protection and expenditures and the change in crime rates over the past five years.

Maine followed Vermont as the state considered safest. Next came Iowa, North Dakota, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kentucky, Montana and Wyoming.

- Associated Press

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB