With the wildly high murder rates in Chicago and Detroit, will Pittsburgh follow that trend? (Philadelphia: 2013, violent crime)

[gg]

I was shocked to read that Chicago has over 40 murders in 2013 already. Detroit had a ton of murders last year. Pittsburgh seems to be okay I guess if you look at other cities, but I hardly think that all those murders are okay. I am not sure if there is an overall increase these days in Pittsburgh when it comes to murder? I can't seem to find running statistics. Was 2012 better than 2011? Was this January better than last year? Were are we tending? I don't want to see our city get like Chicago or Detroit. Those are some really big numbers that really are horrible. What peaked my interest was an article about a girl that danced at Obama's inauguration was shot. I think she was 15 years old. That is really sick and I wish I didn't read about it.

Hope we don't get worse.

[bradjl2009]

Despite what the media is saying about Chicago's murders, they have always been very high and the city still has less murder than it had in the 90's. Pittsburgh is fairly different IMO in demographics, neighborhood stability and investment, size of ghettos, gang presence, in migration and gentrification, and mentality than Chicago and Detroit to the point I don't see Pittsburgh ever going down that path. Also I think Pittsburgh had about 40 murders in 2012 and the county had about 95 which is less than or close to the same as 2011.

[PreservationPioneer]

Detroit has always had an extremely high murder rate. That is nothing new.

[pfflyernc]

h_curtis, the Department of Justice/FBI keeps statistics about violent crime, including murder, over time. Here are the numbers for Chicago, Detroit, and Pittsburgh (all rates, which are expressed as number per 100,000 population as reported by each city's police department, are from http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/Crime.cfm):

...................1985...1995...2005...2010
Chicago......22.2....30.0....15.6....16.0
Detroit.........58.2....47.6....39.5....43.4
Pittsburgh....8.5.....16.3....19.0....17.9

Going by these data, it does seem that Pittsburgh's rate has more than caught up to Chicago's and, unlike that of the other two cities, is increasing. The peak rate so far was in 2008, at 23.2 per 100,000. Interesting.

[Caladium]

Usually murder goes up when the economy is getting worse--Pittsburgh's is getting better.

[TheYO]

I remember researching this when the "most dangerous cities" list came out in November. I still have the spreadsheet I downloaded from the FBI, so here are some stats I found on murder rates. These numbers are all for murders only, not all violent crimes.

In 2011, New Orleans had the highest murder rate of any big city (population over 100,000). There were 200 total murders and a murder rate of 58 per 100,000 people.

#2 was Flint, Michigan, with 52 total and 51 per 100,000
#3 was Detroit with 344 total and 48 per 100,000
Philadelphia was #17 with 324 total and 21 per 100,000
You have to go down to #28 for Chicago with 431 total and 16 per 100,000.
Pittsburgh wasn't too far behind at #32 with 44 total and 14 per 100,000.
By comparison, Los Angeles was #85 with 297 murders, but just 8 per 100,000. NYC was #106 with 515 murders (most of any city), but just 6 per 100,000.

As others have mentioned, Chicago had a more violent 2012 than recent years. It ended the year with 515 murders or 19 per 100,000. Pittsburgh had 42, still 14 per 100,000.

Statistically speaking, you really aren't that much more likely to be murdered in Chicago than you are in Pittsburgh, and you're way more likely to be murdered in New Orleans or Detroit than either Chicago or Pittsburgh. Also, you're far more likely to be murdered in Pittsburgh than you are in LA or NYC.

Obviously most murders are contained to a few bad neighborhoods in each city. I'd rather live in some parts of New Orleans or Detroit than some parts of Pittsburgh. At the same time, there are places in LA or NYC that I'd never want to live in, despite those cities having lower murder rates.

[UKyank]

The high murder rates of all these places are concentrated in a few hot spots & I honestly don't know how you go about changing the culture in those areas that think murdering people to solve disagreements is normal. Personally if I was law abiding & lived in daily fear in some of Chicago's southside communities I'd almost welcome a martial law style house to house sweep of my community to rid the place of the miscreants & make living viable again.

[gg]

Originally Posted by TheYO

I remember researching this when the "most dangerous cities" list came out in November. I still have the spreadsheet I downloaded from the FBI, so here are some stats I found on murder rates. These numbers are all for murders only, not all violent crimes.

In 2011, New Orleans had the highest murder rate of any big city (population over 100,000). There were 200 total murders and a murder rate of 58 per 100,000 people.

#2 was Flint, Michigan, with 52 total and 51 per 100,000
#3 was Detroit with 344 total and 48 per 100,000
Philadelphia was #17 with 324 total and 21 per 100,000
You have to go down to #28 for Chicago with 431 total and 16 per 100,000.
Pittsburgh wasn't too far behind at #32 with 44 total and 14 per 100,000.
By comparison, Los Angeles was #85 with 297 murders, but just 8 per 100,000. NYC was #106 with 515 murders (most of any city), but just 6 per 100,000.

As others have mentioned, Chicago had a more violent 2012 than recent years. It ended the year with 515 murders or 19 per 100,000. Pittsburgh had 42, still 14 per 100,000.

Statistically speaking, you really aren't that much more likely to be murdered in Chicago than you are in Pittsburgh, and you're way more likely to be murdered in New Orleans or Detroit than either Chicago or Pittsburgh. Also, you're far more likely to be murdered in Pittsburgh than you are in LA or NYC.

Obviously most murders are contained to a few bad neighborhoods in each city. I'd rather live in some parts of New Orleans or Detroit than some parts of Pittsburgh. At the same time, there are places in LA or NYC that I'd never want to live in, despite those cities having lower murder rates.

Thanks. I try not to fall for media hype and I just figured crime was down across the board, but sometimes it is good to look at the real numbers. I am not very impressed with Pittsburgh's numbers in this category and it is interesting, but disheartening. For most rural people and folks way out in the suburbs, one would have to agree that Pittsburgh is pretty dangerous. Is there a crime map per year year? I seem to remember seeing that somewhere, but I didn't know if it was reliable.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

... Is there a crime map per year year? I seem to remember seeing that somewhere, but I didn't know if it was reliable.

Homicides - Allegheny County, Pa.

[ebyrnes]

burgersub.org - maps of murder shows murders from the eastcoast all the way to Cleveland. Some areas are quite dense with murders, and as UKYank said, it is pretty hard to decrease the murder rate when some folks consider it to be normal. Personally, despite living in what some people consider to be a bad neighborhood, I worry much less about being murdered than I do being mugged.