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Let's get one thing straight. I'm not shocked DC has a high murder rate....I've followed crime rates nationwide for years now. It's more it shouldn't have such a high murder rate considering it is the nation's capital and it's more wealthy than say Philly or St. Louis. NYC has been able to get it's murder rate down to less than 3/100k. Why can't DC? You'd think the folks in the Capitol would want to make sure DC looks squeaky clean like the people in NYC did.
That started in the 90s which is why DC is so much more polished today. To be frank, it was not a nice place to be in most areas, and to your point, the US capitol should be a showpiece.
Your other point about wealth and why crime is still high (crime and murder is high in DC), there is a boatload of reasons why that could be the case, such as gangs, generational poverty in poorer neighborhoods, etc. I am sure some other posters can chime in.
One point, "wealth" does not equate to lower crime. DC has a lot of wealth, but is also has its fair share of poverty in the city, (metro not as much). Crime in American cities is problematic across the board and I think it shows that even wealthier cities suffer from the same crime issues (for the most part).
But regardless, 2020 will not be a good year for most cities, as you know.
Yeah, I've never understood this either. If you account for only the population in the urban core, KC probably has one of the top 3 homicide rates in the country.
I could be wrong, but doesn't a portion of KCMO overlap into two other counties? The overall crime statistics could be slightly exaggerated because the PD in respective counties could include crime reports in it's immediate suburbs ?
That started in the 90s which is why DC is so much more polished today. To be frank, it was not a nice place to be in most areas, and to your point, the US capitol should be a showpiece.
Your other point about wealth and why crime is still high (crime and murder is high in DC), there is a boatload of reasons why that could be the case, such as gangs, generational poverty in poorer neighborhoods, etc. I am sure some other posters can chime in.
One point, "wealth" does not equate to lower crime. DC has a lot of wealth, but is also has its fair share of poverty in the city, (metro not as much). Crime in American cities is problematic across the board and I think it shows that even wealthier cities suffer from the same crime issues (for the most part).
But regardless, 2020 will not be a good year for most cities, as you know.
DC has 68 homicides. The DC region, however defined by the Washington Post , has 119.
43 of the 119 are in Maryland, 32 in PG county, 8 in Montgomery County.
I think it's mostly how limited it is to a small area and also how it's generally been improving a lot over time. Chicago is similar in that regard though. NoVA and MoCo does wonders for the D.C area's image. Basically avoid 3 connecting areas, and you avoid 80-90% of the metro violence (Inner Beltway PG+SE+NE). Not many large MSA's have such distinct boundaries, and this gives the perception as long as you stay in the vast majority of NoVa+MoCo+NW+Outer PG and the other adjoining areas your safe.
I also think compared to Chicago a visitor to D.C's experience might be more suburban outright which leads to a better perception of the area, things like Airport locations and tourist locations help a lot. The three airports that serve the area are all in nicer suburban regions. Midway is in a meh area, O'Hare is in an okay location and close in to the city, your not seeing much of the expanse of middle class, sprawl before you enter the city.
Even then Chicago is still over-demonized due to politics, and the fact that when talking shear numbers it looks really bad compared to smaller cities.
Well, when you visit DC, what do you see?
You see all the nice looking large avenues, clean street... You do not see the poor neighbourhoods. In DC, the violence is very concentrated in the SE (the NE has some violence but not like the SE) and those areas have no tourist attraction so people never see them.
When I was in DC, I was in Sixteenth Street Heights and I felt shield from the violence. There was a website called "homicidewatch" which tracked DC homicide up to 2014 and when you checked the homicide map, you can clearly see that the west is almost homicide free, South of the Antacstia river is just a war zone
Well, when you visit DC, what do you see?
You see all the nice looking large avenues, clean street... You do not see the poor neighbourhoods. In DC, the violence is very concentrated in the SE (the NE has some violence but not like the SE) and those areas have no tourist attraction so people never see them.
When I was in DC, I was in Sixteenth Street Heights and I felt shield from the violence. There was a website called "homicidewatch" which tracked DC homicide up to 2014 and when you checked the homicide map, you can clearly see that the west is almost homicide free, South of the Antacstia river is just a war zone
One of the few times I felt my life threatened was leaving an apt on 1400 Irving St with my girlfriend. This area was heavily populated with restaurants and bars , so it was still well lit at night. We turned the corner and these 2 guys with their hoods up, hands in their pockets slouched over, looked like they were out to cause trouble. I looked them dead in the eye until they passed, once they were out our vicinity she had a " bad vibe" from them.
One of the few times I felt my life threatened was leaving an apt on 1400 Irving St with my girlfriend. This area was heavily populated with restaurants and bars , so it was still well lit at night. We turned the corner and these 2 guys with their hoods up, hands in their pockets slouched over, looked like they were out to cause trouble. I looked them dead in the eye until they passed, once they were out our vicinity she had a " bad vibe" from them.
I have friends in Shaw who regularly have alerts regarding crime. I think is spread throughout most of DC. I actually think heavy crime is more isolated in Chicago than DC.
In Philadelphia's case, many neighborhoods outside of Center City give off an older, slightly run-down vibe, BUT, people always equate that to dangerous, which is largely not the case.
I have friends in Fishtown, and until that neighborhood hit its development stride, it was mostly row-houses, cracked sidewalks with a general older wear and tear vibe, but no one ever complained of rampant crime or felt in danger. Whereas more neighborhoods in DC are cleaner and have trees, etc. yet the crime rate is still as high as say Fishtown.
Philadelphia needs to do a better job at repairing streets, sidewalks, planting trees, street sweeping, etc. But that set of problems doesn't go hand in hand with rampant crime.
In summary, DC is not "dangerous" but some people on here are giving it a little too much credit.
3 people shot and 1 stabbed in separate incidents overnight in Dorchester. One dead.
One of those shot was a 15 year old girl. Dorchester now has 15 of Boston’s 20 homicides this year. The neighborhoods is on pace for its deadliest year since 2010. The reason this is so is because the vast majority of people in the metro truly do not care. About 25-30% of homicides in the entire state of Massachusetts annually take place in 10-12 square miles of Bostons inner city.
Here’s the first comment in this article:
“John-O44
6/04/20 - 11:46AM
In the “ killing fields “ of Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury just another day.....if these communities were removed from crime statistics of Boston would have similar stats to a sleepily Swiss village.”
I'll never understand why D.C. has such a high crime/murder rate when it's one of the wealthiest cities in the nation and it didn't have a large industrial past like the midwestern cities.
Id guess the social fabric and culture of Inner city DC changed permanently in the crack epidemic. It was much more impacted than most cities. I think that permanently altered the ‘underworld’ of DC. It’s the only explanation so far as I can see. It could also be because there is a high rate of PCP usage in DC which causes extremely violent and erractic behavior. I’ve twice seen fully naked crazed people running around SEDC- undoubtedly high on PCP.
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