Is South Carolina really this violent? (Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach: RV park, crimes, hotel)

[sindylou]

i have lived in charleston my entire life and i have never experienced crime of any nature that is not to say it does not exist but mt. pleasant is such a laied back community and the police that have jurisdiction over the area while very arrogant are still good at their jobs and take keeping our community safe very seriously. i love mt pleasant and have yet to find a town quite as welcomeing or safe. its a big city with small town appeal thats not to say it needs to get any bigger.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by aquariusmom

I don't know the causation, the poverty rates don't help but there are other states with high poverty rates with lower crime rates... personally I think it'[s the humidity. Leaches the brains out of developing babies or something... joking. Sort of.

The whole southeast is suffering a crime crisis, while violent crimes have actually gone down in much of the country they have consistently increased in the southeast. This is a region with strict laws, the death penalty, and gun ownership so I dunno- you'd think it'd be safe... the crappy schools, high poverty rates and uh..humidity, that's what stands out most.

The southwest was no picnic either.

[waccamatt]

I wonder if hot weather has anything to do with higher crime rates?

[sheena]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

I wonder if hot weather has anything to do with higher crime rates?

I was thinking the same thing.

[SunnyKayak]

"In summer, of course, there are naturally more people out on the
street; more alcohol is consumed and the opportunity for petty
disagreements to occur is amplified.

hot weather equals higher levels of serotonin released in the
brain, a side-effect of which can be heightened aggression. "Violent
crime and riots increase as temperatures rise.

here is a graph of homicides by season.

http://caag.state.ca.us/cjsc/publica...03/tabs/15.pdf

[sandlapper]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

I wonder if hot weather has anything to do with higher crime rates?

Actually I learned in one of my psych classes that there is an association between ice cream sales and the crime rate. Meaning that in the summer months when the weather is hotter both ice cream sales & the crime rate increases, possibly due to the uncomfortable hot humid & irritating weather.

I really don't think these crime stats are anything new. Pretty much for the last 10 years or so (as long as I've been following the stats) most southern states have had fairly high crime rates. I just say use common sense, typically if you are not involved in criminal behavior your chances of being caught up in a "crime" (victim, commiting, or otherwise) are pretty low. I've lived in the south (high crime rate state) 21 of my 31 years and I've never been shot, shot at, robbed, car jacked, hi jacked, stabbed and left for dead, or even sucker punched.

[sandlapper]

Another thing too with this whole crime issue. I don't know if there are technically varying degrees of crime. But I'll tell you if you have ever been to Chicago and visited a little neighborhood called Austin, oh you'll know what "crime" is. I thought I had seen some rough neighborhoods growing up but man let me tell you nothing I'd seen came close to what Austin (Chicago) was like. Me and my girl were lucky enough to discover this while condo hunting up there, man!

Sorry for the trip down memory lane but it was wild.

[jenn02674]

Yes I agree, crime (as it is in most areas) is typically isolated in certain areas. I have lived here for most of my 33 years (four years I lived up north in my late 20s) and have never experienced personally violent crime but I do know people who have. My parents next door neighbor's son (and this was in a mid-upper class neighborhood) shot and killed two people during a drug deal gone bad and my brother's next door neighbor's daughter (and this was in a midlevel condo community) was involved in a murder-suicide.

My neighborhood has been hit with some car breakins and burgleries, my dad's car was broken into at his office when he left it overnight once, my storage unit was broken into, and my sister's car (actually it was mine but she was using it) was actually stolen from the Carolina Place mall parking lot.

So basically, crime has hit pretty close to home in my experience and I never have and do not live in or near those "rough" areas. I have always lived in a fairly affluent area but my point is the crime stats should not be sugar coated. It is a problem and crime does leak out into other areas.

No, I won't leave the south because of crime (and keep in mind this is not just a SC thing it is a southern thing), well unless it gets worse, and I don't think people should not move here because of it. My intention is not to badmouth SC because I wouldn't want to live anywhere else but I also don't want to gloss over the issue. We need to face it and deal with it and make it better.

Yes stats can be twisted and turned so I always try to keep that in perspective but this has been an issue for a long time. It isn't a new thing. Back in the 70s, Charlotte, NC was the murder capital of the country. This was back when Charlotte was pretty much still just a small city. There are areas of Charlotte that rivals those area's outside of Chicago and Charlotte is no where near the size of Chicago so it isn't just a "city" thing either.

Jenn

[jrogers345]

Stay away from certain areas... I know personally that Myrtle beach has a lot of crime... My parents live in Murrells Inlet which isn't too bad but am informed by them of crime in MB area and we had a family tragedy there...my nephew was murdered there last year. I was just down in Myrtle Beach to attend the murder trial of my nephew who was killed there over a $2 spilled drink. Besides dealing with that family tragedy, while we were there during 4 days we saw on local news that a guy who worked at one of the beach stores shot and killed this customer (in front of his wife and 2 small kids) over an argument cause the customer's son was running around the store. A knifing and a shooting at a bar. A tourist was carjacked and beaten. There was an attempted lynching! and 4 guys attempted to kill a guy with a poisonous snake!!!! Oh year, a girl was raped by 4 guys.

[ATLBound]

You're kiddin me right ? Take it with a grain of salt. It's based on population. Miami and Detroit are like 10 times worse than these areas. Don't believe the hype ! I would never in a million years wanna live in Detroit or Miami.