3 ms·

Crime per km^2 is just as valid as crime per person.

by msellout 13y ago

throwaway_yy2Di 13y ago
It's valid if you're a square kilometer of dirt and you're afraid of being mugged on.
- derefr 13y ago
  Or, I suppose, if you're trying to decide which square kilometer of dirt to build apartment complexes on based on projected property value trends (where crime is always a large factor.) These tend to be the people who pay for this sort of data (and thus incentivize its collection), which is why it's put in their terms.
cbr 13y ago
If I want to know the chances of someone breaking into my apartment I want the data per-apartment. If I want to know the same for cars I want the data per-car. If I want to know my chance of getting shot I want the data per-person. Overall crimes per person approximates what we care about much better than crimes per unit area.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  > If I want to know my chance of getting shot I want the data per-person In reality though, it isn't as simple as that. Sure, I don't want to be shot. I also don't want other people to be shot a lot in my neighborhood. If I walk to work and see a car parked on the street has been broken into, that bothers, even though my car is in a secure parking garage. I don't want to be the victim of crime, but I also don't want to live amidst crime. I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear about it, and I don't want to think about it. Crime per km^2 is nearly as important to me as crime per capita.
  - derefr 13y ago
    To put it another way: if you live alone, statistics measured per-person are directly applicable to the chance something will happen to you. If you have a family who lives with you, though, the combined probability distribution of something happening to someone in your household changes quite dramatically.
    - cbr 13y ago
      These are rare events, so the chance of something happening to someone in your family of N is close to N times the chance of it happening to you.
brown9-2 13y ago
In 2011, NYC had 0.65 murders per square kilometer (515 murders in 784 sq km of land). In the same year, Gary IN had 0.23 murders per square kilometer (30 murders in 129 sq km of land). Do you feel 2.5 times higher to be murdered in NYC than you do in Gary, IN? For comparison with the traditional per-100,000-people rates, NYC had a rate of 6.3 in 2011 versus 37.2 in Gary.

Crime per km^2 is just as valid as crime per person.

throwaway_yy2Di 13y ago

It's valid if you're a square kilometer of dirt and you're afraid of being mugged on.

derefr 13y ago
Or, I suppose, if you're trying to decide which square kilometer of dirt to build apartment complexes on based on projected property value trends (where crime is always a large factor.) These tend to be the people who pay for this sort of data (and thus incentivize its collection), which is why it's put in their terms.

cbr 13y ago

If I want to know the chances of someone breaking into my apartment I want the data per-apartment. If I want to know the same for cars I want the data per-car. If I want to know my chance of getting shot I want the data per-person. Overall crimes per person approximates what we care about much better than crimes per unit area.

jlgreco 13y ago
> If I want to know my chance of getting shot I want the data per-person In reality though, it isn't as simple as that. Sure, I don't want to be shot. I also don't want other people to be shot a lot in my neighborhood. If I walk to work and see a car parked on the street has been broken into, that bothers, even though my car is in a secure parking garage. I don't want to be the victim of crime, but I also don't want to live amidst crime. I don't want to see it, I don't want to hear about it, and I don't want to think about it. Crime per km^2 is nearly as important to me as crime per capita.
- derefr 13y ago
  To put it another way: if you live alone, statistics measured per-person are directly applicable to the chance something will happen to you. If you have a family who lives with you, though, the combined probability distribution of something happening to someone in your household changes quite dramatically.
  - cbr 13y ago
    These are rare events, so the chance of something happening to someone in your family of N is close to N times the chance of it happening to you.

brown9-2 13y ago

In 2011, NYC had 0.65 murders per square kilometer (515 murders in 784 sq km of land). In the same year, Gary IN had 0.23 murders per square kilometer (30 murders in 129 sq km of land). Do you feel 2.5 times higher to be murdered in NYC than you do in Gary, IN? For comparison with the traditional per-100,000-people rates, NYC had a rate of 6.3 in 2011 versus 37.2 in Gary.