News, 15 Worst College Crime Areas. (UCB, schools, MIT, students)

[John1960]

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed and WalletPop.com recently released a report on the most dangerous neighborhoods for property crime in the U.S. Surprisingly, this exclusive list included numerous neighborhoods which are adjacent to some of America's largest and most prestigious colleges and universities.

15 Worst College Crime Areas - WalletPop

[ogre]

Actually I don't find this surprising at all. The article points out that these are rankings for property crime only. The factors the article points out, when they asked a police official for thoughts on the reason, sound about right. You've got a lot of naive young people, away from home for the first time, being careless about locking doors and keeping their belongings secure.

I don't really know the stats, but even though this article considered only property crime, I would not be totally surprised if there were fairly high rates of violent crime--at least some types of violent crime--near colleges as well. Think about it. You've got a concentration of people in the age categories of late adolescence and early adulthood--generally the most violent age groups--and there will usually be a lot of heavy drinking where there are a lot of college students. Fights, rape, and assault are a few of the violent and/or serious crimes I might expect to find occurring at fairly high rates in a such a setting.

My observation also has been that towns, or city neighborhoods, home to large universities can attract some creepy characters. The generally leftward leanings of attitudes around colleges, including the tendency to make a point of accepting and tolerating pretty much any kind of off-beat way of life, means that you can get some pretty, um, colorful characters hanging around near large universities. Many of these people are probably harmless souls who march to the proverbial different drummer, but I do get the impression that some anti-social all-around losers, some of whom could be dangerous, will be among the crowd of sorta different characters who find their way to university towns to take advantage of the tolerance for alternative views of the world often found in these towns.

Also, even around prestigious universities, the neighborhoods near colleges sometimes aren't the greatest. Where there are concentrations of students there often also will be a lot of run-down housing that has been damaged by hard-partying students, and poorly maintained by the slumlords who often gouge, er, rent to students. And the general population of permanant residents living near colleges may often make these some of the poorer neighborhoods. Many people may like the idea of having a college somewhere in the city or town where they live, but the noise associated with concentrations of college kids often means that areas in the immediate vicinities of colleges are not especially desirable neighborhoods.

[eevee]

these type of polls never made much sense to me. there was one last fall that listed Emerson, Tufts, and MIT among the 10 most dangerous college campuses in the US, w/ Emerson being #1. at least this one makes a bit more sense than that other silly poll from the fall, but it still doesn't get right down and state the most dangerous college campus (in terms of violent crimes committed on college property).

[StarlaJane]

"Property crimes" really should be bolded b/c otherwise the article can be alarmist or simply interpreted incorrectly.

I lived in Austin for 6 years and went to U.T. I lived at 28th St. and Guadeloupe. Was I a victim of property crime? Yes. I had my radio stolen from my car (whoopdefrickin'doo). Why do I think this article is misleading? B/c I also lived in New Haven (where I was also the victim of property crime; again, items stolen from my vehicle) before I moved to Austin. I don't know about crime rates but I can only say that I felt infinitely safer in Austin than I ever have in New Haven. A man attempted to mug my mother in broad daylight in New Haven, which I never encountered, saw or even heard of in Austin, and a Yale student was just recently killed in New Haven by a co-worker. And yet, New Haven doesn't make the list? I guess those (as well as the general feeling of "unsafety") are "isolated incidences" that were not considered in these statistics.

That said, I think that the article should have included general crime rates or, at least, crime rates that are of real concern. Much as having property stolen sucks, it's nothing compared to being mugged, raped, kidnapped or killed. I think that an article that focused on those statistics would have been more helpful.

[billiken]

My alma mater is on this list twice, thought that was pretty funny. That being said, I never felt like my life was in danger or anything on campus. The area blocks north of my campus gets pretty sketchy, but basic city smarts will keep you safe in the area.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by eevee

these type of polls never made much sense to me. there was one last fall that listed Emerson, Tufts, and MIT among the 10 most dangerous college campuses in the US, w/ Emerson being #1. at least this one makes a bit more sense than that other silly poll from the fall, but it still doesn't get right down and state the most dangerous college campus (in terms of violent crimes committed on college property).

The Colleges of the Fenway, for which Emerson is a part of, is not in that bad of a section of Boston, however, there have been two recent incidents at Wentworth (also a College of the Fenway, and right across from Simmons, also a member) involving a robbery at gun-point and a robbery at knife-point. I would suspect that crime would be higher at BU, BC, and Northeastern. Guess not.

Some people would describe the neighborhood surrounding Tufts as 'ghetto', while others would say that it is a post WWII suburb like all the rest. It would all depend on where you come from. Incidents do happen at Tufts, but nothing that I would say make it any more dangerous than other colleges. Besides, Tufts students are pretty diligent and will call campus police if a light is burned out or someone 'creepy' is wandering the campus.

MIT does have a good amount of crime. Most of it is petty, such as stolen laptops or bicycles. It is also an open campus and pedestrians wander across it all the time.

I can think of other schools such as Princeton or UCB that I would suspect to see on the list.

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

The Colleges of the Fenway, for which Emerson is a part of, is not in that bad of a section of Boston, however, there have been two recent incidents at Wentworth (also a College of the Fenway, and right across from Simmons, also a member) involving a robbery at gun-point and a robbery at knife-point. I would suspect that crime would be higher at BU, BC, and Northeastern. Guess not.

Some people would describe the neighborhood surrounding Tufts as 'ghetto', while others would say that it is a post WWII suburb like all the rest. It would all depend on where you come from. Incidents do happen at Tufts, but nothing that I would say make it any more dangerous than other colleges. Besides, Tufts students are pretty diligent and will call campus police if a light is burned out or someone 'creepy' is wandering the campus.

MIT does have a good amount of crime. Most of it is petty, such as stolen laptops or bicycles. It is also an open campus and pedestrians wander across it all the time.

I can think of other schools such as Princeton or UCB that I would suspect to see on the list.

The University of Chicago has a name for this. They call it "every week."

[xavierob82]

The only thing that surprises me on that list is Austin. I thought it was relatively safe, for a medium-sized city.

[Mrs. 14th & You]

Austin is fairly safe. The types of crimes compiled by the FBI that are generally used to determine safety are violent crimes. Also, keep in mind that property crimes include vandalism. I imagine that post game-day trashing has a lot to do with Lane Avenue on Ohio State's campus being on the list. Perhaps this impacts Austin's standing as well.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

I can think of other schools such as Princeton or UCB that I would suspect to see on the list.

Princeton? There's a fair amount of theft on campus, some burglary, not much car theft or vandalism. The surrounding communities have a lower crime rate.