FBI: St. Louis has 2nd-highest murder rate of any large city in 2008 (University City: violent crime, houses)

[tablemtn]

...right behind New Orleans:

New Orleans again nation's murder capital

with 64 killings per 100,000 people in 2008, New Orleans had the highest per capita murder rate in the nation, well ahead of second-place St. Louis, which had 47 murders per 100,000 people.

Fortunately, homicides are down a bit compared to last year in St. Louis so far this year.

Was there a gang war or something in 2008 that fizzled out? 47 homicides per 100,000 is catastrophically high compared to the national average of 5.6.

[Jill61]

Holy Smokes! What has happened to my home town?

[Brickmama]

The homicides are not rampant throughout the whole city but more in a few areas on the North side. In terms of big cities, I consider STL a rather safe city.

[SouthCity09]

In Pictures: America's Most Dangerous Cities - Forbes.com

st.louis is not even in the top 15 most dangerous cities in the U.S.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

From what I've seen, neighborhood makes a big difference. Some neighborhoods are fine and others are bad.

I'm sure a lot are gang killings also, not that that makes it better.

[14thandYou]

Originally Posted by SouthCity09

In Pictures: America's Most Dangerous Cities - Forbes.com

st.louis is not even in the top 15 most dangerous cities in the U.S.

Originally Posted by Brickmama

In terms of big cities, I consider STL a rather safe city.

It's worth noting that the Forbes list considers a city's entire MSA in their tabulation. When St. Louis by itself is considered, it is the 4th most dangerous city in the U.S., behind only New Orleans, Camden, NJ and Detroit. (http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/City...8_Rank_Rev.pdf)

Of course that doesn't mean that every part of St. Louis is "bad" or "unsafe". But if terms such as "safe" and "unsafe" can be applied to cities as a whole, then St. Louis would most certainly fall into the former category. When the company you keep includes New Orleans and Detroit, that's not good.

[steindle]

Since this same argument arises every freaking time that new murder/violent crime stats like this come out, let me explain why they are patently unfair.

The city of Houston is considered to be 601.7 sq miles. There were 379 murders in Houston in 2006.

St. Louis City is 66.2 sq miles. There were 129 murders in St. Louis City in 2006.
St. Louis County is 524 sq mi. I can't find the 2006 stats specifically, but in 2000 there were 31 murders in St. Louis County.

If you combined the two, you would have an area a little smaller than the CITY of Houston: 590.2 sq miles. And you would have 160 murders in that area. And that would be 219 less than the equally-sized city of Houston. The entire state of Missouri had less murders than the city of Houston in 2006.

Comparing cities to each other based purely on the area that is considered to be the city proper is ridiculous and senseless. The city of Dallas is considered to be 997 sq freakin' miles. Phoenix, AZ is 517. Los Angeles is 498. I could go on.

I don't deny that there is a serious violent crime issue in St. Louis -- particularly in North St. Louis, as any murder map will tell you -- but it's an epidemic that is common to most American cities and it's blown out of proportion by this absurdly skewed manner of presenting the facts.

[Northwoods Voyager]

47 murders per 100,000 people is still a high murder rate no matter what the square miles. One of the areas in which I lived as a child is now considered a dangerous area. A few years ago I attempted to drive back to our former home and was disheartened at the devastation of the homes and stores. The people 'living' there now are so depressed. No grocery stores, no drug stores, no theaters, nothing there any longer that would provide any substantial living condition. Jobs so scarce. Boarded up buildings. Vacant lots.

As children, my cousins and I would/could walk the street to the local theater and home again without any worries or concerns of being attacked. Actually, I don't remember any time that we ever were afraid. That thought never even crossed our minds. Now, I would not even drive an automobile through the neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon. My hometown has changed and it is sad.

[Jill61]

That's such a shame, Northwoods Voyager. The area I grew up in in University City, went through a phase like that. I would drive past my old house and all the houses in the neighborhood had bars on all the doors and windows, and my old grade school, Greensfelder Park, was boarded up for decades.

About 15 years ago (??) I decided to drive through for old time's sake again, and I was stunned at how it had utterly transformed. No more bars on the houses, lawns trim and landscaped, "islands" in the roads planted with beautiful flowers, and my old school renovated and turned into a community center. It was incredible to see!

I sure hope your old neighborhood can become revitalized, too.

[Northwoods Voyager]

I doubt it Jill61. I googled the area and spent some time going through the visual tour. It is worse now than before. I imagine it will stay in this deplorable condition for many years to come until the politicians get their act together and assist in developing areas such as this with neighborhood revitalization as opposed to hand outs.

I firmly believe that those citizens need the opportunity to work and support themselves thereby increasing their self esteem and self worth. This in turn would benefit the neighborhoods and hopefully spread from one street to the next and on and on. To witness the transformation that you have observed in your former neighborhood. That is splendid indeed.