Is the violence in Chicago out of control? (2013, condo)

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by AudioQuebec

It's easy to say Chicago isn't Detroit. Is that all some people can compare Chicago with? Chicago is dangerous compared to, Dallas and those other cities because Chicago has a bigger population than all those cities with Houston being close (and I believe will surpass Chicago in population soon).

Chicago really is in a league of it's own, because the cities it is compare to are either more/less populated than it is..Houston is the only one that comes ''close'' in comparison but with Chicago having previous murder totals at 489-510, LA with 398-480 and NY with 425-475, (all average) I'd say Chicago isn't a ''war zone'' but it's dangerous!!!

It is easy to compare crime in cities of different sizes - you look at crime RATES, not just the number of crimes. Take homicide for example (since that seems to be the one everyone gets hung up). Here's a sampling of murder rates (for 2009, per 100,000) in US cities to help put things in perspective:

New Orleans - 52
St. Louis - 40
Baltimore - 37
Oakland - 26
Philadelphia - 20
Memphis - 20
Chicago - 16
Miami - 14
Atlanta - 14
Houston - 13
Pittsburgh - 12
Indianapolis - 12
Los Angeles - 8
NYC - 6

Chicago is a little worse than average, but not by much.

Houston is actually a really bad match for comparison to Chicago. Houston is about 2.5X the size of Chicago in area, so the population numbers really don't tell you much about the similarities and differences between the cities. The city of Houston proper includes loads of suburban developments, as would Chicago if it expanded to 2.5X it's geographical size. They are two VERY different cities, any analysis of statistics for the two cities needs to take that into consideration.

[Vlajos]

I knew St Louis and New Orleans were bad, didn't realize how bad though.

[j_cat]

Surprising that Atlanta is that low. I guess that city is changing pretty rapidly.

[Attrill]

Originally Posted by j_cat

Surprising that Atlanta is that low. I guess that city is changing pretty rapidly.

For overall murders Atlanta isn't all that different from Chicago. They're close enough that very small shifts in political boundaries would make them flip places. It also has burglary and auto theft rates that are about twice Chicago's. It did see murders plummet in the 90's, which is great.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Attrill

It also has burglary and auto theft rates that are about twice Chicago's.

[Chicago South Sider]

Strange that I've lived on the south side all this time and never realized how dangerous it really is.

[Aleking]

Some 'hoods in particular are having bad summers/springs and would fit my criteria for being out of control, including Humboldt Park and Englewood. The fully gentrified areas that are talked about all the time (River North, LV, LP, WP, etc) are fine despite some high profile events. As far as the partially gentrified areas are concerned, the action hasn't been all that bad, including Pilsen, Logan and Uptown. RP has had a couple incidents and Avondale had one particularly bad incident. All in all, the bad areas continue to be hell holes and the status quo roles on.

[EastBoundandDownChick]

‪chicago gangs‬‏ - YouTube

A generation of kids growing up in fatherless homes, living in a gang culture the city is way too soft on. That's the problem from what I can tell. There needs to be an all-out war on this sh*t already.

[sydbarrett]

Originally Posted by EastBoundandDownChick

A generation of kids growing up in fatherless homes, living in a gang culture the city is way too soft on. That's the problem from what I can tell. There needs to be an all-out war on this sh*t already.

A war on fatherless households or gangs?

[cdubs3201]

In the 5 years living here on the north side of Chicago, I don't know that I've seen a single act of violent crime.