Why is crime so high in Memphis (crime rates, home)

[Bridesmaid]

I am wondering why crime is so high in Memphis. Why Memphis? Sounds like there is more crime in Memphis than any other city. Would it be a good idea to carry a gun. I heard that you can get one easily. Maybe that accounts for the high crime!

[pomartini]

I have lived here for almost 6 years and don't own a gun - nor have I felt the need to.

Crime is high for several reasons but it is mostly isolated to bad areas of town - i.e., gang and drug zones. There is obviously random crime - which you will find in every city.

For more indepth, multi layered reasons: We have a corrupt "city" government who line their pockets versus distributing resources to education and police and drug enforcement. We have an underwhelming "city" school system that continues to have less and less money which means resources are cut resulting in more delinquent behavior...which contributes to a below national average high school graduation rate (in the inner city), a high gang presence, high teen pregnancy rate, etc, etc, etc, etc.

[DeLaSalle]

Check the Racial Demographic...
What does: Detroit, DC, NOLA, Atlanta, Gary, Miami have in common...Hmmm
What do you think...

[MrsMichelle]

When you have a high rate of "citizens" on wellfare and social security, then you are bound to have problems. But, like it says in the above post, most of the crime is in isolated areas.

[Pearlbob]

For god's sake, buying a gun is not going to help anything, other than put your children and spouse at risk. If a criminal wants to break into your house, they are 99% not going to do it at night when you are home. Memphis is mainly petty crime, like poor people looking to make $50. Not jewel thieves wanting to ransack your house. You are much more likely to get your lawnmower stolen out of your shed than have someone break into your home at 3am to tie you up and steal your tv's. Of course, it all depends on where you live, if you llive in the ghetto, then you're more likely to get broken into.

Crime is rampant here due to the horrible school system. If we can't educate our children, this city will never get better. Kids grow up to be poor, to be criminals, and the good kids who go to good schools leave Memphis after 12th grade. It all boils down to that.

[DarthDarr]

Black areas of Memphis are without exception more dangerous that non-black areas. Crime rates have a direct correlation to racial makeup. In general, this is true in most large U.S. cities.

The population of Memphis (city) is about 65% black. The metropolitan area approaches being 50% black. As the ratio of black to non-black increases, expect the Memphis crime rates to increase because there will be relatively fewer "safe" areas to offset the "unsafe" areas.

Black areas are afflicted with more crime due to culture, NOT because black people are born with the God-given inclination to commit crime. Dominant black culture glamorizes violence, promiscuous sex, teenage motherhood, instant gratification, corruption, rebeliousness and disrespect for authority while demonizing hard work, education, duty to family and concern for community welfare. A few lonely voices (i.e. Bill Cosby) try to combat this culture, and hundreds of thousands of blacks - some here in Memphis - work to escape this culture only to be ridiculed for "being white". As long as "being black" means lots of guns, dope, and babies, Memphis does not have a very bright future ahead of it.

[Pearlbob]

I think specifically, black people in Memphis have just never moved ahead like maybe Atlanta for example. It's very southern here, very old school, and there's just a ton of ignorance. Sort of like we're stuck in the 1950's still in terms of race relations. I think a lot of black kids grow up not realizing they can get out of Memphis, or make anything of themselves, and their parents don't realize that either. Just a never-ending cycle of bad schools, ignorance, and then more kids that don't know any better. For the most part, most black people here grew up here, families are from here, etc. Whereas with white people, they are more likely to be from other parts of the country, or at least have kids who have moved elsewhere for college and gotten out of Memphis. I think if you live in Memphis your whole life, you will be ignorant to what better things this country has to offer.

[TheBigApple]

Well said Pearlbob. I agree totally. I am black, but not originally from the Memphis area. I am amazed at the crime, poverty, and lack of education. It exists everywhere, but it is truly out of control in Memphis. While a part of the black culture does indeed glamorize the things DarthDarr mentioned above, I wouldn't say that's the dominant black culture. Maybe in the inner city it's dominant. The problem is the lack of education and ignorance. If the parents had the sense to teach their kids that what they see on TV or hear on the radio is NOT reality, we wouldn't have this problem. Education was not optional in my home. My parents taught me that I could do or be anything I wanted, and I'm passing that on to my kids. When these kids today are born into poverty, and that's all they ever know, they aren't thinking about going to college one day. They are doing what they see around them. The rest of us need to wake up and realize that this is everyone's problem, because you see what you get when we ignore it.

[Pearlbob]

Exactly! And another main problem is the politicians and school board members say, "Well I grew up in Memphis, I went to Memphis public schools...and I'm fine!" Well, not really. If you had common sense, you could see things ARE NOT fine around here. But even the public officials here in Memphis don't know any better, they don't know how other places compare. And they get offended when "outsiders" come in and try to change things.

Sometimes you just have to admit defeat, throw up your hands, and say, "We give up...please help us." People here refuse to do that. Even those with money and educations refuse to admit that there is a problem that just isn't getting solved here. It's really sad. And if you can't even admit there is a problem, things will never get better. Those people here who understand the problem seem to have just given up, moved to the burbs, and send their kids to private schools. Frankly, that's what I would do too, if I had kids. It seems pointless to even try to change the attitude here.

[Dd714]

My personal opinion is that Memphis just has a very poor local government. Demographics and race issues aside, the history of Memphis politics is one of corruption and graft. The voters seem to accept a certain level of this as normal.
The result is you have a certain percentage of tax dollars going into politicians and politicians friends pockets, you get politicians that are working for there own self interest, and you get a voting population that grows dissolutioned and apathetic. The second result is that you get poor performing schools, lack of economic growth, and less goverment services such as a good police force - all lead to crime and lack of law enforcement.

Most of the violent crime, however, is centered in certain parts of Memphis.