Why are American cities much more VIOLENT than other world cities? (crime, living)
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Location: Where Sunday shopping is banned in the USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by burgler09
ehh, United States has some of the lowest crime rates in the world. Regular, law abiding citizens are at a lower risk of crime than most other nations in the world. I would say the high murder rates are mostly a product of poor areas dealing with drug crimes or gang violence.
The title of the article is misleading, by 'global' they mean alpha city on the global city rankings, not most dangerous city in the world, far from it. Chicago is nothing compared to a lot of cities in Latin America and Africa, but the US is undeniably worse than other developed nations.
Definitely, I think the amount of crime you see really depends on your socioeconomic class. I mean, that's obviously true for any country but I think much more so with the United States. If you are slightly upper middle class and up, you'll very rarely come across any crime. Very rarely do you have to worry about things like pick pockets, car break ins, house break ins, etc etc. It's just not something that an average person faces.
However, if you're slightly under middle class and below, you're going to see a lot more of these things. You have to watch out a lot more for break ins and those type of things.
The violent crime such as murders are still pretty confined to poor areas and murders of people directly connected to the victim.
Making a comparison of the US to Brasil is just flat out ignorant. The only time a country like the US should really have a comparison to Brasil is if someone is considering going there and they would like to know what to expect. Not calling Brasil a warzone, but just trying to say that when you're trying to talk about crime rates it's typically best to address countries that are fairly similar in how the average person lives (not by GDP of the country or size of economy)
Er, actually burglars often target wealthy neighbourhoods...I grew up in a relatively well off (not that rich, but probably on the better side of average) in Perth and we were burgled thrice. I know it's Australia, but I'm fairly sure the same pattern holds in the US. Obviously, the return is much higher.
It's true the violent crime is confined to poor areas, but does that make it okay? Let those poor people in their ghettos sort it out, it's not our problem? I think the fact these areas exist should be cause for improvement...
Wasn't there a very similar thread about a year ago? Probably more than one. The one thing people have to remember when discussing violent crime, is that different countries categorize what a violent crime is, so some places which are actually safer than others, can look bad in the numbers.
Definitely, I think the amount of crime you see really depends on your socioeconomic class. I mean, that's obviously true for any country but I think much more so with the United States. If you are slightly upper middle class and up, you'll very rarely come across any crime. Very rarely do you have to worry about things like pick pockets, car break ins, house break ins, etc etc. It's just not something that an average person faces.
However, if you're slightly under middle class and below, you're going to see a lot more of these things. You have to watch out a lot more for break ins and those type of things.
The violent crime such as murders are still pretty confined to poor areas and murders of people directly connected to the victim.
Yes, and this is something that Europeans and other non-Americans can't relate to that well. Outside of the U.S., there doesn't seem to be this kind of dramatic difference in crime rates as you go from high socioeconomic classes to lower ones within the same metro areas. It's like there are 2 Americas. Everybody - no matter what city they live in - knows what the "wrong side of town" is. Upper-middle class Americans are literally sheltered from crime in a way that is probably a rare experience for similar people in other developed countries.
Still, it would be nice to be able to go anywhere you want worry-free in American cities like you could probably do in a city like Tokyo. That's what we should be aiming for anyway.
I don't understand what 'overall poverty' means, and only half of the bolded sentence is right. "Europe" is not richer overall. However, most Western/Northern European countries have a better safety net, which means less income inequalities and a less segregated society. At least in part, violence is a side effect of the economic structure (some) Americans picked for themselves, but there are cultural causes as well.
(by the way, where are all the "Europe is not a country" people?)
When the US is better at something they're here like roaches. Anyway, I've always said it makes more sense to compare this way as the USA spans a continet anyway. But yeah, talk about the US vs Europe and Europe comes up short, suddenly it isn't far to compare this way
It only made us the most powerful nation in the world, no big deal
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