thinking of Smyrna (Wilmington, New Castle: crime rates, home, safe area)

[Gone-2-Beach]

Yes, a famous correctional facility in Ossining, N.Y. The expression "sent up the river" refers to the process of criminals convicted in New York City being sent up the Hudson River to Sing Sing.

Here is a list of where Sing Sing made appearances in movies and such ...

Sing Sing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charley

[peeweeaz]

I surely am glad I'm not the only "simpleton" on this forum.

[Gone-2-Beach]

Bingo! The data used here at City Data, and in many other places, is based on crime statistics furnished by the FBI. So, off I went to the FBI website and read their FAQs about statistics. Here is what I found:

"Understanding a jurisdiction's industrial/economic base; its dependence upon neighboring jurisdictions; its transportation system; its economic dependence on nonresidents (such as tourists and convention attendees); its proximity to military installations, correctional facilities, etc., all contribute to accurately gauging and interpreting the crime known to and reported by law enforcement."

If a community has a correctional facility and crime occurs within the walls of that correctional facility, it DOES count in the community statistics, even though the impact of the crime never makes it over the prison wall.

That explains why Smyrna looks as bad as it does on paper, yet looks better in reality.

That also casts a suspect light on statistics in general, which doesn't give someone like me particular comfort, but it is what it is.

I hope the person who initially started this conversation by asking about Smyrna is still hanging in there and has read this far. My advice is to go look at Smyrna yourself and see what you see ... and then make your decision based on what you see, with an understanding that the statistics might be skewed by the prison.

Charley

[kpharma]

Hi
I sincerely thank you all for ur advice. I will try to go and see the place.
thank u

[Gone-2-Beach]

Excellent. Please remember to come back and tell us what you found.

Good luck.

Charley

[rockky]

Charley, I've been thinking about this and the prison being in the Smyrna area. It's really outside of the town and east of Rt. 1, so it's pretty separate geographically.

How much of the crime inside the prison do you think is really reported to authorities outside of the prison walls? Wouldn't most of it be handled internally? If that is the case, how would it be part of the stats?

[Gone-2-Beach]

I was thinking about that in terms of reporting. I have a feeling (can't prove) that any incident that occurs must be reported in the same way that any incident that occurs in a hospital must be reported.

When I worked for a living, there were always reportable incidents for which staff was completing paperwork - accidental needle sticks, medication errors, patient falls, etc - whether there was injury or not. I suspect that the same is true in prisons. When violent crime occurs, a report must be submitted somewhere - particularly because the incident will lengthen the sentence of the person committing the crime and there needs to be some kind of documentation, hence the report.

Now this is all just supposition on my part - but I think it makes sense.

The actual address of the prison is 1181 Paddock Road. Smyrna, DE 19977 so it would count in the Smyrna statistics.

Charley

[rockky]

Yeah, I'm sure the prison would be a Smyrna postal address.

The fact that those incarcerated would be included as a 'resident' of an area would certainly skew the stats regarding numbers of people charged with crimes in an area. Like the number of people living in an area who committed a violent crime would be higher for an area where there is a state prison.

I filled out incident reports quite often working with special-needs kids, but that didn't mean any charges of any sort were filed. They were victimless incidents.

Of course there is crime inside prisons, but how much of it is reportable, violent crime with a victim making the charges? Isn't the system supposed to be protecting those incarcerated?

Hummm? Gotta think about this one.

[elizamary]

Originally Posted by CMTAD

Bingo! The data used here at City Data, and in many other places, is based on crime statistics furnished by the FBI. So, off I went to the FBI website and read their FAQs about statistics. Here is what I found:
... and then make your decision based on what you see, with an understanding that the statistics might be skewed by the prison.

Charley

Great job charley. When someone says it is written in black and white and I dont' agree, I have to wonder where the source orginated.

I have visited Smyrna recently and found it very hard to believe it was worse than Dover.

Guess it is the prison that brings the crime rate up in statistics.

I am so glad the person that inquired about Smyrna finally got a reasonable explanation.

[Gone-2-Beach]

Well, let's HOPE it's reasonable. It does seem to be correct, given what we know.

Charley