CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN OKLAHOMA

Burglary and larceny are two major kinds of crime in Oklahoma and the state's second largest city, Tulsa, has a higher crime rate on average than the state's largest city, Oklahoma City.

These are among the crime figures published by the information website areaconnect.com.

Statewide, 35,692 burglaries were reported in 2005, along with 93,814 larcenies. Oklahoma recorded 187 murders in 2005, down from 206 the previous year.

The most recent data comparing the crime rates of Tulsa and Oklahoma City were published in 2004 by disaster.com. The murder rate in Tulsa was 12.3 per 100,000 population, nearly double Oklahoma City's rate of 7.4 per 100,000. Aggravated assault was also significantly higher in Tulsa, 850 per 100,000 population compared to Oklahoma City's 521 per 100,000.

As of October 2006, Oklahoma prisons held almost 25,000 offenders, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. The gender breakdown reported by the department this year was 89.7 percent male, 10.3 percent female.

The racial makeup of the prison population was 56.5 percent white, 28.8 percent African American, 8.6 percent Native American and 5.7 percent Hispanic. About 40 percent of those incarcerated were violent offenders, according to the Corrections Department.

Currently, the state has 86 prisoners on death row, including one female. As of mid-November this year, Oklahoma has put four prisoners to death by lethal injection, according to deathpenaltyinfo.org.

--Caroline Richardson