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>most of us reading this live in one of the safest countries in the world with many of that group living in some of the most high crime cities in the country -
by anonym29 3y ago
>most of us reading this live in one of the safest countries in the world
with many of that group living in some of the most high crime cities in the country - SF, Seattle, Portland, Austin, Denver, NYC, Chicago, Boston, LA, etc.
- woodruffw 3y agoNYC is at or near the bottom of most crime statistics. This talking point is significantly out of date; you should consider revising it.
- dmoy 3y agoI mean, those aren't even the highest crime places in the US (Chicago notwithstanding) If you want to list actual high crime places in the US, it's: Baltimore, St Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, and Cleveland. Besides Chicago, none of the others you listed are even top 20.
- dmoy 3y agoI guess unless by safe we mean burglary, not violent crime. In which case, yea, I think Seattle is worst, like 50% worse than the second worst.
- anonym29 3y agoI wonder what Baltimore, St Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, and Cleveland (and maybe Chicago?) have in common that SF, Seattle, Portland, Austin, Denver, NYC, Boston, and LA don't. There has to be some hidden third variable besides a weak correlation between crime levels and how far west a city is within the US, no? Looking at the states, MD, MO, LA, MI, OH v.s. CA, WA, OR, TX, CO, NY, MA I was thinking maybe guns but then why would TX and CO (relatively relaxed on guns) be in the lower category? Then I wondered if maybe it's relating to the housing-challenged (more property crime maybe?), but I can't imagine that climates like those of Detroit and Chicago, with subzero temps and tons of snow in the winter, are very unhospitable to the unsheltered, probably even fatal to those who can't access shelter. Anyone else have any ideas? I'm stumped here. I know crime is a complex social issue but it seems like there's some weird variable I must be missing.
- dmoy 3y ago> There has to be some hidden third variable Or probably like a hundred other variables. > I was thinking maybe guns but then why would TX and CO (relatively relaxed on guns) be in the lower category? There's basically zero correlation between US state gun laws and homicide (or US state gun ownership rate and homicide). I mean like the correlation there is 0.05 or something, quite literally zero. Some of the most lax states (Idaho, New Hampshire) have some of the lowest homicide rates (on par with Europe). Some of the other most lax states (Louisiana, for example) have some of the highest homicide rates. And v. versa for strong gun laws (as far as US can get lol). Poverty correlates better. Income inequality correlates better. But neither sufficient to explain everything.
- anonym29 3y agoIsn't the US poverty line a level of absolute wealth that would put one among the top 10-20% highest income humans on earth? I wonder why such prosperous people are still so compelled to commit elevated levels of crime.
- dmoy 3y agoBecause things are very expensive. Absolute wealth means nothing if rent costs 70%+ of your income.
- anonym29 3y agoSure, but people below the poverty line qualify for housing vouchers, food stamps, utility vouchers, public transportation vouchers, taxpayer-provided cellular phones & cellular service, and more.
- burkaman 3y agoAll of those cities have average or below average crime among US cities.
- anonym29 3y agoAll of those cities have average or below average reporting of crime, which informs the statistics you're citing from. But the sum of reported crimes is almost certainly considerably smaller than the sum of all crimes actually occurring. After all, how many people in SF or Seattle do you think even bother filling out a police report after their car is broken into for the 18th time, when doing so the first 3 times did absolutely nothing?
- pc86 3y agoYou're conflating "high crime" with "high property crime" and 1985 with 2023.