Indy murder rate higher than Chicago! (Indianapolis, Marion: violent crime, house, neighborhoods)

[Berteau]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/indianapo...180000276.html

People love to hate on the Chicago murder rate, but it’s actually not that high and apparently Indy’s is higher. It actually doesn’t surprise me, because I used to live in Chicago and see the weekend murder numbers and I have been surprised by how high Indys have been. But I never actually thought the rate would be higher.

[Kluch]

I think it's been this way for a while. Indy gets a bad rap for violence/murder but it's my understanding that a lot of it is concentrated in certain areas and is often gang related.


I watched this a while back...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAWbnzXrDCE

[Toxic Toast]

887,642 people live in Indianapolis according to the 2020 census. In 2020, there were 245 homicides in Indianapolis. 245/867642=0.000276012. That means on a given day in 2020, you had a roughly 0.028% chance of being murdering in Indianapolis. That number is so small, it barely warrants any serious consideration by the average person.

This topic of homicide rate is so ridiculous. On the one hand, it does raise some obvious red flags in terms of societal ills. If you see an area where there are a lot of homicides, what you're looking at is people who often need help. But that is generally not what these topics are brought up to talk about on this forum. Usually, it is brought up here within the context of "this area is unsafe" or "you should move to Avon." Even the OP is unclear what the purpose in broaching the topic is. Are you scared? Are you surprised? Are you offering a solution? I don't really know.

The bottom line is that in Indianapolis, if you're not involved in illegal activities, there is a greater than 99.7% no one is going to kill you on any given day.

[sheerbliss]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

887,642 people live in Indianapolis according to the 2020 census. In 2020, there were 245 homicides in Indianapolis. 245/867642=0.000276012. That means on a given day in 2020, you had a roughly 0.028% chance of being murdering in Indianapolis. That number is so small, it barely warrants any serious consideration by the average person.

This topic of homicide rate is so ridiculous. On the one hand, it does raise some obvious red flags in terms of societal ills. If you see an area where there are a lot of homicides, what you're looking at is people who often need help. But that is generally not what these topics are brought up to talk about on this forum. Usually, it is brought up here within the context of "this area is unsafe" or "you should move to Avon." Even the OP is unclear what the purpose in broaching the topic is. Are you scared? Are you surprised? Are you offering a solution? I don't really know.

The bottom line is that in Indianapolis, if you're not involved in illegal activities, there is a greater than 99.7% no one is going to kill you on any given day.

That would be for a given year, not a given day.

COVID deaths in Marion County totaled around 1700 during the first year of the pandemic. Even though it's now around one a day, you're still more likely to die of COVID than be a homicide victim here. (I don't know what "not riding" means.)

[personone]

There are a handful of cities that have usually always have a murder “rate” higher than Chicago (Baltimore, Memphis, Detroit, St. Louis, etc- wasn’t sure about Indy).

But Chicago has the highest TOTAL NUMBERS of all cities for violent crime, including NYC (which has almost 5 million more people) and LA (which has over 2 million more people).

[jamary1]

Originally Posted by personone

There are a handful of cities that have usually always have a murder “rate” higher than Chicago (Baltimore, Memphis, Detroit, St. Louis, etc- wasn’t sure about Indy).

But Chicago has the highest TOTAL NUMBERS of all cities for violent crime, including NYC (which has almost 5 million more people) and LA (which has over 2 million more people).

"Rates" can be deceiving.

I moved to Detroit in 1972. The murder count had exploded. BIG numbers. If I remember correctly, it was around 1200. I can't recall what rate that was.

But, little Windsor, Canada, across the river had had a ***50%**** increase in murders. Yes, 50%!!! Murders had increased from 2 to 3.

You can't just go by "rates".

[Kluch]

Y'know it's funny... I have a buddy who lives in fountain square (one of the nicer and more gentrified areas near downtown Indy) and last week there was a shooting nearby his house which (after the police arrived and created a perimeter) blocked the normal route he takes to get to his house so he had to take a different route to get back home. He doesn't feel any less safe though. Random crime happens. Last year I remember there was some sort of gang activity or shooting that happened in the neighborhood across the road from us and we live way out in the whiteland/franklin area (not even remotely close to downtown). Crime can happen just about anywhere, I just don't see Indy as one of the most dangerous places to hang out. As others have mentioned (in the past), there are pockets where the crime is worse (like any other city) but be smart and you should be fine 99% of the time.

[Otis Street]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

887,642 people live in Indianapolis according to the 2020 census. In 2020, there were 245 homicides in Indianapolis. 245/867642=0.000276012. That means on a given day in 2020, you had a roughly 0.028% chance of being murdering in Indianapolis. That number is so small, it barely warrants any serious consideration by the average person.

This topic of homicide rate is so ridiculous. On the one hand, it does raise some obvious red flags in terms of societal ills. If you see an area where there are a lot of homicides, what you're looking at is people who often need help. But that is generally not what these topics are brought up to talk about on this forum. Usually, it is brought up here within the context of "this area is unsafe" or "you should move to Avon." Even the OP is unclear what the purpose in broaching the topic is. Are you scared? Are you surprised? Are you offering a solution? I don't really know.

The bottom line is that in Indianapolis, if you're not involved in illegal activities, there is a greater than 99.7% no one is going to kill you on any given day.

The OP was likely scared and surprised and if he had a solution he probably wouldn't be posting his question here. For the record, I'm also surprised at the statistics and I don't have a solution, but I don't think it's ridiculous at all to worry about being murdered. Looking at it from the outside, the statistics are scary. And the media tends to play that up because fear sells advertising. This leads to the depiction of Indy as a Mad Max dystopia where residents of Meridian Hills or Zionsville strap on holsters before they go out to mow their lawns. Your son's math teacher carries a concealed handgun and you might find yourself in the middle of a shoot-out at the Steak and Shake, where everyone is armed and as soon as one person starts firing, everyone stands up and joins in. Easy for you to think it's ridiculous because you understand the issue from a more up-close and realistic perspective. Your explanation is a big help for those of us looking at the stats and have been puzzled about the homicide rate, so thanks for providing that.

There are some good studies (E.g., Hot Spots of Predatory Crime: Routine Activities and the Criminality of Place - Sherman; Gartin and Buerger) supporting the theory that the majority (58%) of violent events occur in highly localized "microgeographic" spaces, and that even neighborhoods that are generally considered "dangerous," are in fact safe as long as one avoids the hot spots.

Then again, to your point, the other 42% can happen anywhere. I remember reading a news story about an incident in Westerville, Ohio where some guys got drunk at a nice family barbecue awhile back and someone shot and killed a relative during an argument. I'd also add that it's a good idea to avoid late-night shopping at convenience stores that are located near a freeway entrance and if you know you'll be driving through a dodgy area gas up before your trip.