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Detroit, Camden, Newark and New York were hot spots because of the crack epidemic, whether it was happening or it was the after mass, it was bad.
Newark claimed the top spot as the most dangerous city in 1996 or 97 and it usually just hovered around the top spot during the rest of the 90s... It's so much better now, but still a lot of people look at it the same way.
San francisco's violent crime rate in the early to mid 90's (and especially the 70's and early to mid 80's) was actually pretty high. Like as high, nearly as high, or even higher than some cities that today have a reputation for being very dangerous. Violent crime rates for select US cities from 1990 to 1994:
1990
Chicago - 2,842.2
LA - 2,404.6
NYC - 2,383.6
New Orleans - 2,259.2
Long Beach - 1,956.8
Cleveland - 1,817.6 San Francisco - 1,711.1
Oakland - 1,570.2
Memphis - 1,488.0
Houston - 1,388.3
Philadelphia - 1,348.8 1991
Chicago - 3,092.5
LA - 2,525.8
Oakland - 2,495.8
NYC - 2,318.2
New Orleans - 2,190.3
Long Beach - 2,100.7
Cleveland - 1,831.9 San Francisco - 1,645.4
Houston - 1,599.9
Memphis - 1,422.3
Philadelphia - 1,406.1 1992
Chicago - 2,840.4
Oakland - 2,626.4
LA - 2,459.5
NYC - 2,163.7
New Orleans - 1,981.6 San Francisco - 1,821.3
Cleveland - 1,661.6
Long Beach - 1,554.8
Memphis - 1,552.6
Houston - 1,465.1
Philadelphia - 1,191.2 1993
Chicago - 2,717.4
Oakland - 2,601.6
LA - 2,374.3
NYC - 2,089.8
New Orleans - 2,039.0 San Francisco - 1,815.0
Cleveland - 1,643.2
Memphis - 1,633.8
Long Beach - 1,605.4
Houston - 1,453.8
Philadelphia - 1,255.2 1994
Chicago - 2,684.5
Oakland - 2,193.9
LA - 2,059.0
New Orleans - 1,886.9
NYC - 1,860.9
Memphis - 1,568.3
Cleveland - 1,529.7 San Francisco - 1,461.4
Long Beach - 1,416.7
Philadelphia - 1,322.5
Houston - 1,307.5
During that time, SF's murder rate was never all that high compared to many cities (it peaked in the 90's at 17.5 murders per 100k residents in 1993, with a total of 130 murders...the previous record was 142 murders in 1977). SF did have a pretty high robbery rate however. Here are all of those cities I listed, with their robbery rates from 1990 to 1994 averaged out (and with their 2007 robbery rates for comparison):
Chicago = 1344.3 (546.1)
New York = 1221.24 (265.0)
New Orleans = 1099.2 (523.1)
Oakland = 1065.4 (875.1)
Los Angeles = 1040.82 (348.3) San Francisco = 1013.6 (513.9)
Cleveland = 893.0 (914.3)
Long Beach = 863.08 (317.7)
Philadelphia = 792.3 (714.6)
Memphis = 783.36 (727.7)
Houston = 694.9 (529.1)
Its bad that Chicago topped that list all 4 of those years.
Sometimes I think that if Chicago's crime issues got the publicity that NYC and LA got that maybe the city would take up some drastic measures to reduce crime.
Its sad to think that kids growing up in some of the neighborhoods in the city have to worry about just staying alive rather than things like the prom or midterms.
Sometimes I think that if Chicago's crime issues got the publicity that NYC and LA got that maybe the city would take up some drastic measures to reduce crime.
Chicago has always done a good job of hiding its crime problems with the help of its residents. Even today the high murder count and gang problem is getting swept under the rug.
5th Ward in Houston was scary as hell back than. My aunt lived closed by, and she lived right by the bayous. Once we found a dead body floating in it. All you heard was ambulances and gun shots all night.
5th Ward in Houston was scary as hell back than. My aunt lived closed by, and she lived right by the bayous. Once we found a dead body floating in it. All you heard was ambulances and gun shots all night.
Miami, overtown, liberty city, little haiti, opa locka and the rest of dade county. And when I lived in West Palm it had one of the highest crime rates in the nation in the 90's.
Detroit, Camden, Newark and New York were hot spots because of the crack epidemic, whether it was happening or it was the after mass, it was bad.
Newark claimed the top spot as the most dangerous city in 1996 or 97 and it usually just hovered around the top spot during the rest of the 90s... It's so much better now, but still a lot of people look at it the same way.
Someone reps me and says
"You are a sell out, stop trashing your own state"
without a name... denial maybe?
How ignorant; I can't deny Camden is one of the worst cities in America. I'm probably one of the only few people who stick up for cities like Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson. hence me saying "It's so much better now, but still a lot of people look at it the same way"
But thanks for the rep.
And BTW,
I forgot to mention Gary, Indiana.
That place was a disaster in the 90s I heard.
Washington DC was the murder capital in the 90's, 400 murders a year in a city proper of 600,000, crack epidemic hit the whole East Coast hard.
Not during the entire 90's. It had to share that title with several other cities like New Orleans, Compton, East Palo Alto, etc. And crack hit the whole country hard, not just the East Coast. Apparently the news doesn't reach east of the Appalachians in some cases.
Its bad that Chicago topped that list all 4 of those years.
Sometimes I think that if Chicago's crime issues got the publicity that NYC and LA got that maybe the city would take up some drastic measures to reduce crime.
Its sad to think that kids growing up in some of the neighborhoods in the city have to worry about just staying alive rather than things like the prom or midterms.
I agree. I knew Chicago was really bad back then, but i didn't expect it to be at the top of the list every time, and by a pretty wide margin too.
One thing i find interesting is that SF had a higher violent crime rate than Oakland in 1990, but then Oakland's rate jumped by 1,000 points for every year following that. I have to say the Bay Area (particularly the SF-Oakland MSA) was pretty intense for crime in the 90's...what with Oakland and SF right next to each other, as well as Richmond, Vallejo, East Palo Alto (the "murder capitol" in 1992. The population was 25,000, and they had 42 murders. That's a murder rate of 168/100,000 residents. east Palo Alto was having murder rates 80-100/100k residents for 4 years before that as well), etc.
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