The 10 most dangerous places in PA, I know you thought Wilkes-Barre (Reading: 2014, crime rate)

[Chefkey]

Just goes to show, all the negative stuff being said about Wilkes-Barre here it's still not as bad as these other fine cities.

Here Are The 10 Most Dangerous Places In Pennsylvania

[Chefkey]

For those of you so concerned, here's what people are saying are the safest. If you feel the urge to run from the Wyoming Valley here are the 10 places to go if you can believe them

Here Are The 10 Safest And Most Peaceful Places To Live In Pennsylvania

[Chefkey]

The only town from NEPA to make the list of safest was hop bottom, all the rest were west of Harrisburg and Reading.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Chefkey

Just goes to show, all the negative stuff being said about Wilkes-Barre here it's still not as bad as these other fine cities.

Here Are The 10 Most Dangerous Places In Pennsylvania

Two points, firstly they are probably basing this on 2014 which was relatively calm.

Secondly the smaller the town or city the smaller the sample size. Extraordinary events can can skew the results. For example Plymouth made one these lists a few years back. Plymouth isn't exactly a Leave it to Beaver neighborhood but it's not the worst place in the world either. They had that triple murder, they would not have appeared on that list for decades before or since.

If you are going to make any kind reliable comparison you really need context with smaller populations.

[jimazee]

Originally Posted by Chefkey

The only town from NEPA to make the list of safest was hop bottom, all the rest were west of Harrisburg and Reading.

I've always liked the name ... it even sounds safe (sorta). Guess why it's called that -> click here for answer

[Chefkey]

Originally Posted by jimazee

I've always liked the name ... it even sounds safe (sorta). Guess why it's called that -> click here for answer

Yeah, I saw that after a little research from reading the list. I'm surprised there's not a big brewery there like Stegmaier or Yuengling

[jimazee]

Originally Posted by Chefkey

Yeah, I saw that after a little research from reading the list. I'm surprised there's not a big brewery there like Stegmaier or Yuengling

Craft brewers (and winery!) Nimble Hill is nearby but probably doesn't get their hops from Hop Bottom

[thecoalman]

This list is using statistics for 2012 and the crime rate is calculated using this formula:

VIOLENT CRIMES + PROPERTY CRIMES = TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES

TOTAL REPORTED CRIMES / POPULATION * 1000 = CRIME RATE

Using this is not a very good measurement. Petty crimes and small stuff is more likely to go unreported the larger the town/city, that is also going to be true for some violent crimes like assaults. Something else that can skew this is how active the community and police are. I think the best measurement stick is the murder rate, that is not a crime that is likely to go unreported.

Just as another example they list Selingsgrove, population 5K. They have a University there population 2K.

[LazarusMcGee]

There should have been a minimum population for the safest places. I imagine safety isn't much of a concern in sparsely populated areas.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by LazarusMcGee

There should have been a minimum population for the safest places. I imagine safety isn't much of a concern in sparsely populated areas.

You don't necessarily need to exclude them, you first need to use a very long set of data. Perhaps a decade or more. Form there you may want to adjust the data for anomalies but you have to do that very carefully.

I gave the example of Plymouth previously where they had three murders, it was actually four. You would have to go back many decades to find another instance of four murders in that town, perhaps a century. You can throw that year out because it's an anomaly however only 3 of those murders would be anomaly. Three were where a kid from Philly shot 3 teenagers, the other was local. Keeping that year in your data set or how to handle it becomes very problematic.