Only because many places (like NYC) don't count violent crimes as violent. If a mentally deranged vagrant runs up to you and punches you hard in the face, knoc

Only because many places (like NYC) don't count violent crimes as violent. If a mentally deranged vagrant runs up to you and punches you hard in the face, knocking you to the ground before running off, in NYC that is considered 3rd degree assault - a non-violent misdemeanor. On the rare occasion when this violent lunatic is caught, he is given an appearance ticket and released - non violent misdemeanors like this aren't "bail eligible". In a massive portion of these cases, the prosecutor will simply drop the charges. On the very, very rare occasion when it does go to trial the lunatic is deemed "not fit to stand trial" and simply released back onto the street. In all of these events, this is not recorded as a violent crime, so people with their head in the sand can wave their hands in the air and talk about how there is no violent crime in the city. But the often traumatized person who has been a victim of this violent assault now suffers from the memory of being attacked - more so because they know their attacker faces absolutely no sanction and is back out on the street. People who live in the city and ride the subway are constantly menaced, harassed and/or assaulted and that is an extremely unfriendly and dangerous environment to live in, even if it doesn't show up in the sanitized statistics.