High Crime In Lawrence?

[zack johnson]

Regardless of whether or not Lawrence had a higher rate of rape in 2010 than did Topeka, the fear-mongering in which you are partaking is silly to say the least. As indicated by "greenways" above, people in Lawrence mostly only need worry about hordes of drunken college students, but those are easy enough to avoid.

As far as your statement that you are "not pro-sin"......

I wonder---might you be able to treat me to a rational explanation as to why having sexual relations with someone of your own gender should be considered a sinful practice? By rational explanation, I of course mean to say that I would like for you to explain this to me without invoking any supposed religious doctrine concerning the matter.

For example, is it the fact that homosexual relations cannot culminate in pregnancy that concerns you? Or does it simply gross you out by virtue of how it isn't what you yourself are accustomed to? I truly am curious why you care about what goes on between the sheets of complete strangers...

Please and thank you for your consideration of my inquiries. I mean no ill will by asking these questions of you, honestly.

[intelfan11315]

I was just in Lawrence and it seemed extremely safe. I think people need to stop freaking out about everything.....

[greenways]

Originally Posted by burgler09

I was just in Lawrence and it seemed extremely safe. I think people need to stop freaking out about everything.....

So says the burgler...lol

[MOKAN]

Originally Posted by zack johnson

Hmmmmm......I'm not so sure about the assessment of Lawrence provided here by "AnywhereElse."

While I agree that stats can be a useful source of information about a particular place, I also know that stats seldom if ever tell the whole story. Lawrence is far from a hotbed of criminal activity.

As an individual who is preparing to move from Lawrence to a city much more widely-reputed for its crime statistics (Memphis, Tennessee), I honestly find it laughable that anyone would be on this site posting about the crime in Lawrence.

Haha. I couldn't agree with you more. But I also understand that it's all relative. A place like Springfield, MO, for instance, has no real ghetto like KC, St. Louis, Memphis, etc., but that doesn't stop people from labeling certain sections of town as such and telling people to stay away, not move there, etc. In the end, what they're actually doing is contributing to the creation of a ghetto.

Lawrence? It's an affluent, very suburban, highly-educated town. I've never felt it's a place of crime. Although, I'm sure whatever crimes correlate with college students are higher there than elsewhere - obviously. Rape is possibly one of them because of supply and demand.

[intelfan11315]

Originally Posted by greenways

So says the burgler...lol

Even burglars don't like to be robbed

[luzianne]

No need to worry; Lawrence is safe. I would expect the crime rate to be a little higher than average because of the student population. I have never felt unsafe in Lawrence, even walking at night.

[AK-Cathy]

A bit late to the party but when looking for a winter residence near my Kansas family we chose the Lawrence area. Coming from a small to medium sized city that regularly makes appearances on Top 10 lists for per capita crime, (especially for rape and sexual assaults) Lawrence seemed an idyll of safety. (And I've only experienced minor property vandalism and two car break-ins here in "Crimeville North" in 30+ years.)

Lawrence was generally holistically and statistically safer, much cleaner and better kept than Topeka, KC was too big and we wanted acreage, Wichita was bland IMO. Smaller towns had their own issues from economic blight, proximity to unpleasant industry, areas of high meth arrest statistics which tends to drive property and other crime, to being just too small and the concern was fitting into the community. Lawrence seemed to be "just right" in many terms, safety being one.

It's all relative. Of course Lawrence would appear to be "unsafe" to folks that have not lived in a population center of more than a few thousand rural workers. Coming from a generally high crime city and living in one of the higher crime sectors in that city (it's older but slowly gentrifying heart) I have a very high level of trust in Lawrence, there being no area in the city itself or it's immediate surrounds that I would not venture into at any time of day or night.

[Mathguy]

For general comparison between Topeka and Lawrence...per 100k population (looking at the last 4 years roughly)

Murders: 9 vs 2
Rapes: 35 vs 50
Robberies: 200 vs 70
Burglaries: 1275 vs 700
Auto Theft: 450 vs 190
Arson: 9 vs 25
Assaults and Thefts were about even.

Thefts are the BIG driver in "crime" in Lawrence with 4000 (vs 4200 Topeka)

I think that people are perhaps not experienced as to what pushes up crime rates on campuses.
The burglaries are typically stealing peoples laptops, backpacks etc. when they aren't paying attention or coming in the first week of school and taking all the bi-cycles from the racks totalling 30 thefts etc.

With the exception of rape, the Lawrence stats are heavily heavily padded with less serious offenses.

This is the problem with boiling down everything to a single number.

[Mathguy]

For another comparison, Detroit has about 20x the murder rate, 10x robberies, 4 x assaults, 3x burglaries, 8 x the auto thefts, 4x arsons as Lawrence.

However, they have about the same rate of rape and thefts in Detroit are about 1/2 the Lawrence rate. (For whatever reason, probably because the college students there have a lot of electronic gadgets worth stealing and people in Detroit may not bother filling out a theft report.)

It's crime stat number is only about 2.5x higher than lawrence because the "thefts" distort things.

[AnywhereElse]

Here is a link to the 2011 stats: http://www.accesskansas.org/kbi/stat...dex%202011.pdf I have learned that illegal drugs seem to be a BIG contributing factor in the crime rate even the smaller towns especially those along the KS/MO border. And the thing is that nobody would tell someone that Detroit is a good place to move with your family and Topeka would be dicey at best these days. And yes, illegal drugs are everywhere but, you would not believe it if I told you!