It seems all I've done since coming to Chicago is gush and gasp at what a wonderful city it is. Fact is, it is, but there has to be some dirt that I can throw your way to provide some balance. Totally predictable, I know, but I rushed off in search for crime statistics on the city. Somebody told me it was the 'murder capital' of the U.S., but no that dubious privilege is firmly in the grasp of Washington. Chicago lags in fifth place on murders behind Detroit, Baltimore and Memphis. Even then, the crime rate has fallen for 10 straight years. While I'm sure it could do a lot better (5th out of 50 in murders isn't exactly great), the city nevertheless is moving in the right direction. I think if there is any dirt here it is probably in race relations, but I haven't found any statistics or articles to back that up. Then again race is a big problem right across the U.S. and I'm sure some of my American readers could step in and put me straight on matters.
If you are really interested, you can compare crime in any two U.S. cities, though the data is a little old - currently covering 2001.
"If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very, very low crime rate."
- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
http://maddog.buster.com/june98/msg00015.html
Having lived there, and only having had my apartment broken into once, I can attest the validity of the above statement.
Posted by: DJ at June 28, 2003 01:05 PM
Seems everyone always wants to grab the murder-capital moniker, but Baltimore definitely ranks right up there. Chicago has us beat in sheer numbers, but not in the per-capita category. Violent crime is the single issue driving the political ambition and message of our mayor,
Martin O'Malley, expected to become a future govenor or senator for Maryland and who knows what else. This recent story in the Baltimore Sun provides the latest stats from the FBI:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-te.md.crime18jun18,0,3315943.story?coll=bal-local-headlines
Posted by: Chris Shenot at June 30, 2003 01:37 AMIt is a wonder that Mayor Giulani of New York isn't signed up on fat consultancies by other cities because of the success he has had of ridding New York of that particular sad title. His methods have other side effects though.
Posted by: Joe at July 2, 2003 05:54 AM