Why is Seattle so Safe? (Clinton: home, to live in, stats)

[MorningGloria]

I'm really shocked to see a thread like this in a state that is supposedly so progressive. Someone says it's because there are less black people, and rather than offense, I see a bunch of echos of this sentiment?? Correlation is not causation. Crime increases when the poverty rate is higher, but also when there is more of a disparity of incomes. That doesn't seem to be the case in Seattle.

Also, the gun issue. As someone that lives in DC, we do not exist in a bubble. There is no point in comparing state to state gun laws when someone can easily bring a gun in from Virginia 15 minutes away. A better comparison would be against COUNTRIES with stricter gun laws. If you're comparing states you're either being willfully ignorant or purposely trying to manipulate data to suit your agenda. In DC we're actually experiencing a huge issue with people coming in from Maryland committing crimes

[MorningGloria]

Originally Posted by _OT

The subtle racism runs rapid within this thread, Jesus Christ.

Nothing subtle about it

[UrbanAdventurer]

Originally Posted by caliguy92832

Just kind of curious...to have a metro area population of 3,600,000+ (and be one of largest MSA's in the U.S. no less), how could it possible to have a murder rate about half of the national average? That is insane. Any explanations?

What are considered the "bad areas" of the Seattle metro, if there are any, in this area?

Here are some other MSA's with a similar population to the Seattle metro for comparison...

Murders per 100K population
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA 2.8
- Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA 2.5
- San Diego-Carlsbad, CA MSA 3.1
- Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI MSA 10.6
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA 5.0
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA 5.5
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ MSA 5.8
- St. Louis, MO-IL MSA 8.6
- Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA 10.2
- Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA 4.1

Seattle is the 2nd safest on that list of metros.

Thanks guys!

Stronger than average economy. Nobody is too mad about anything when they have a job and plenty of money.

[Hemlock140]

Seattle's crime is mostly property, car prowls, petty theft and burglary to support drug habits. On that list, Seattle is #4, with 6,127 such crimes per 100,000 residents. That's probably even worse, with under-reporting because many people don't bother to call the police since little will be done.



Cities with the Most Property Crime : HomeSecurityResource.org

[cmswazey]

I would think that a community with a large percentage of desperately poor whites would have as much crime as a community with a large percentage of desperately poor people of color.

I use the word "desperately" deliberately.

[amaiunmei]

Originally Posted by cmswazey

I would think that a community with a large percentage of desperately poor whites would have as much crime as a community with a large percentage of desperately poor people of color.

I use the word "desperately" deliberately.

I think the long-standing heroin (and opiates) crisis in the Pacific NW as well as its disparate effects has pretty much proved your point.

[Hemlock140]

The desperately poor that I see in Seattle are homeless, and I have not noticed much difference in race among those I see panhandling, sleeping on the sidewalks or under the freeway.

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

The desperately poor that I see in Seattle are homeless, and I have not noticed much difference in race among those I see panhandling, sleeping on the sidewalks or under the freeway.

Me neither.

Originally Posted by xboxmas

In the surrounding area it doesn't feel too safe anymore. There was just a drive-by shooting in Kent and the baby just died. There were two different stabbings in Everett the other night.

I had to leave that place ( Everett) last January . It finally got too rough for me to spend what they wanted in rent there. I have lived worldwide and Everett can be a very rough place. ( yes I am the one who lived on Casino 3 LONG years )

[waviking24]

Originally Posted by MorningGloria

Nothing subtle about it

Welcome to Washington state.

[footballer0607]

Originally Posted by RotseCherut

I was in Africa for half a year with black people who earned much less than the poorest people in the USA on average. However, the rate of homicide in the countries I was in, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda (especially Ghana) was much lower than in even many safer cities in the USA. The reason is not skin color, but ethnic groups, which would be African Americans in America's inner city ghettos. The problem is that black culture in the USA revolves around violence, gangs, drugs and it has nothing to do with their income or education levels. Many blacks in American inner city ghettos are actually more educated and have more money than white people in Appalachian towns, however the culture of violence and gangs is not prevalent and these areas also do not have high rates of murder or violent crime. They may have their share of other problems, but gangs and violence is not one of them.

People can close their eyes to the issue if they want, but the real issue is just sociological groups and the cultures with which they are associated. I was a white man wandering through the slums of West Africa, having 10 times the money and education as many of the people around me. Yet, even wandering alone at night, by myself, nobody mugged me, no gang of thugs beat me and took my money. Yes, there are parts of Africa that are like that, but once again, it is the culture and sociological influence, not the skin color or even monetary assets. South Africa, for example, is the wealthiest and one of the most educated nations in Africa, yet has the highest rate of violent crimes and the highest murder rates in Africa and, actually, in the entire world.

Sadly, it doesn't surprise me that someone who resides in Boise, ID (presumably a white man) would come onto this post and profess to be some sort of expert on "black culture", whether in Africa or here in the United States. I'm very disappointed that he and others would use this space to advance the (false) notion that African-Americans are somehow more naturally prone to commit crime than others. Someone else commented that NYC, LA, and DC are among the most dangerous cities in the USA, when in reality, all three of those places have seen their murder rates plummet within the past 2-3 decades. In fact, New York's murder tally, which stood at 2,245 in 1990, dropped all the way to 333 by 2013...with the city's black population remaining virtually unchanged during the same period. Similarly, to this day, blacks make up (by far" the largest portion of DC's population (around 49%), yet that city's annual homicide tally went from a record 412 in 1988 to only 88 by 2010.

Why people continually obsess over painting all African-Americans as residing in "inner-city ghettoes" is beyond me. The number of African-Americans residing in the suburbs has outnumbered those in the urban core of cities for quite some time. Due to gentrification, some of America's most notorious housing projects, like Ida B. Wells and Cabrini-Green in Chicago, have long since fallen to the wrecking ball. Not sure why you'd want to draw a comparison with Appalachian towns; states like Kentucky and West Virginia have far more spread-out, sparse populations, so of course their homicide tallies are going to be far lower. However, during the time I spent in West Virginia, I bore witness to a prescription drug abuse problem and domestic violence which was far higher than the national average. People cut off from jobs and education tend to find themselves with these problems regardless of skin color.