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NC's cities has such a low homicide rate, considering location and demographics. What do you think is the reason for that?
It has to do with history, industry, and demographics. Heavy industry was always more in the agricultural sector than like the factories of the north. Poverty and 'decline' didn't really happen in the inner cities (obviously some places like Durham did have urban decline), but it happened in all the small towns and more rural areas.
That's definitely part of it. But I don't think that those two things are unique to North Carolina
well for example, Raleigh is about 149 sq miles. Similarly sized cities include Birmingham, AL (147 sq mi), Chattanooga, TN (142 sq mi), Las Vegas, NV (141 sq mi.), Detroit, MI (138 sq. mi.), Mobile, AL (139 sq. mi.), and Atlanta, GA (135 sq. mi.). These cities for the most part have more crime than Raleigh despite being similarly sized.
Obviously this is not a super sound analysis but it does beg the question why NC cities are less violent than other similarly situated cities.
Those are metros and cities with different populations though. Remember, I mentioned to look at metros of a similar size, not city land area. I'm not saying that it is the only reason, but I'm thinking of cities that are much more dense/have smaller land areas, but have similarly sized metro populations in comparison. Those type of cities in similar metros can’t annex unincorporated suburbs to help skew rates down is pretty much what I’m getting at.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 10-18-2022 at 03:41 PM..
It has to do with history, industry, and demographics. Heavy industry was always more in the agricultural sector than like the factories of the north. Poverty and 'decline' didn't really happen in the inner cities (obviously some places like Durham did have urban decline), but it happened in all the small towns and more rural areas.
That's interesting. I think NC's more agrarian past might a big reason for its lower homicide rates.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
Those are metros and cities with different populations though. Remember, I mentioned to look at metros of a similar size, not city land area. I'm not saying that it is the only reason, but I'm thinking of cities that are much more dense/have smaller land areas, but have similarly sized metro populations in comparison. Those type of cities in similar metros can’t annex unincorporated suburbs to help skew rates down is pretty much what I’m getting at.
I see. I need to take a look at how NC's cities compared on the metro level. My guess is they are still relatively safer.
Homicides seem to have slowed down quite a bit in Milwaukee the past few months. I remember a few months ago they were sitting at a 30% increase from the year to date total compared to the previous year. As of today it has been whittled down to a 14% increase. Still not great, but showing improvement after a very violent first six months.
That's awesome! It is nice to see how much less violent Newark has become over the years. At this rate Newark will probably end 2022 with a homicide rate lower than Pittsburgh.
NC's cities has such a low homicide rate, considering location and demographics. What do you think is the reason for that?
It's something I've never found a definitive answer to. I think in part at least, it's due to the collective education framework of NC, there's a ton of HBCUs here, which highlights a desire fir black education that goes back in time. And I think that desire over time manifested itself into more prideful black communities, where specifically black education is highlighted more than in many other areas of the country...
Most of the large NC cities also don't have the stark segregation from whites that most other cities have, abd I think a benefit to living mire integrated among white people is some (because certainly not all) access to their avenues of success, and in turn maybe they pay a little more attention to our social issues here, where in most other places I've been we are given our "sides" or areas if town and left to ourselves. Note, there are still MAJOR challenges for black folk in NC, it isn't a flawless Happy Land. Just some of my observations...
The worst neighborhoods and areas in North Carolina aren't in the big cities, I've been to em all. There are hoods and areas that are comparable to what you find in the large northern or western cities, but in NC these are in smaller cities and rural towns, e.g. areas more disconnected from the education and integration framework the larger cities have...
There is nowhere in the big cities that could be described as a killing field or out of control with violence; nome of the big NC cities ever topped 30/100k in murder rate, post-90. It's why I always point out the distinction in what is considered bad or "wild" in NC, in comparison to similarly-sized cities in the rest of the nation...
Just a theory, bruh, based on years of living here and years of living elsewhere! I've noticed people who have never lived outside of NC, and people who have spent most of their lives here, tend to perceive violence in the big cities here the same way people talk about Baltimore and Chicago. People I've met here who are transplants, or have lived elsewhere for a chunk of time even if they are NC natives, tend to have a more balanced perception, that yes, while there are certainly places you'd rather not hang out here, and there are issues with violent crime, it really isn't as bad here as most other large cities...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
Those are metros and cities with different populations though. Remember, I mentioned to look at metros of a similar size, not city land area. I'm not saying that it is the only reason, but I'm thinking of cities that are much more dense/have smaller land areas, but have similarly sized metro populations in comparison. Those type of cities in similar metros can’t annex unincorporated suburbs to help skew rates down is pretty much what I’m getting at.
I don't think this is accurate because of two reasons:
a)NC hasn't been able to force annex suburbs since '12 or so, so suburbs aren't just going to allow themselves into the city here...
b)if you shrunk the geographic size of these cities to the size of their metro peers, you'd be cutting off large swaths of these places where violent crimes occur. The violence isn't disproportionately weighted to the inner city here...
......
Like, let's say you shrunk Charlotte to its core ~163 mi² (came up with 163 as the average land area of its peers of Denver, Baltimore, St Louis, San Antonio, Portland, Orlando, Sacramento), you'd be shaving off 43% of Ckt's land area. Trust me, you're taking away some problem areas on every geographic side of town, so the murder rate would stay either really similar to what it is currently, or possibly go down---->the murder rate wouldn't go up here by any meaningful measure I'd we're slicing the city down...
You can apply this same experiment to the other big cities here. Crime isn't disproportionately weighted to the inner city here...
Quote:
Originally Posted by boreatwork
What about Rocky Mt?
14/25.93
Rocky Mount falls in the category of smaller cities with heavy violent crime to me. It only has 54,000 people. In Carolina, cities this size, really well smaller than this, are the ones where violence abd murder is truly rampant...
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Boredatwork
