Anyone else surprised not to see Detroit?

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

The murder rate has been relatively low (if that's the word to use) for awhile, and in 2015 it was at its lowest in 40 years (43.6 per 100,000 residents), and it has the second-lowest murder rate in the US since 2015 as well. I can remember when it was much higher than today, when Detroit had the well-earned title "Murder Capital of the World" back in 1974, with 751 murders, so that's a good thing. Violence in Motown is unevenly distributed, though. There are neighborhoods on the upper east and central west sections that are particularly violent. Over in those two zones, it can be like a battleground.

Chicago also didn't crack the Top 20, what with all those stories about shootings-per-weekend and whatnot. That's another good thing.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

We have a large population which helps offset the murders.

I wonder why so many of the violent countries in the world are Spanish? The Spanish were in power in the Philippines for 350 years and it's the same there, lots of crime and corruption.

Make America More Like Canada

#MAMLC

You're not counting real war zones. Nothing like civil war to really up the murder rate. Seems like democracy doesn't go very far toward solving these problems. Make the US more like Canada, indeed.

Lots of those countries in Latin America -- as well as South Africa -- are either "democracies" in name only, or they're only nominally democratic and with poorly developed democratic institutions hampered by a style of corruption that's not only expected but required.

Venezuela, a socialist worker's paradise ( ;-) ) hasn't been democratic in decades. Either strongman authoritarians or outright dictators, or socialist bunglers (like Chavez and Maduro) predominate. Columbia is riven by out-of-control drug crime and various cartels. Ditto for Mexico (Acapulco is scary outside of those tourist resort havens). Brazil is largely a Third Word country that pretends to be a Second or even First World country, but a visit to any of their favelas (ghettos) will tell you different. And, lately, they've been booting presidents and their governments for oligarchic corruption.

Most cops in these countries are on the payroll of one group of thugs and criminals or another. Given what many of those cops earn (especially in Mexico), it's almost no wonder they fall in line when a crime lord's representative shows up and tells a cop "plomo o plata" ("sliver or lead," meaning "take the money (bribes) or I take your life").

South Africa? Big problems there when it comes to crime, especially the murder rate.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

South Africa? Big problems there when it comes to crime, especially the murder rate.


That's racist...

Wait, wait. Let me go don my KKK hood and my Black Panthers leather jacket.

Might was well wear the label like a boss, right? ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

How did the middle east avoid inclusion. I think their methods are suspect .

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Some theocratic and autocratic countries in the Middle East and Southwest Asia probably don't provide statistics or their data is considered unreliable. Others have a very low murder rate, given how quickly justice is dispensed in some of those countries for such crimes. ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

New murder capital - Sutherland Springs ;(.

Definitely, and horribly, on a per capita basis. So sad.

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

A couple in our neighborhood left for Brazil for three weeks about a week ago. They're not experienced travelers. Heard today they're "coming home early". Not sure why but let's not hope its not the worst.

How did the middle east avoid inclusion. I think their methods are suspect .


I biked through Turkey, Syria (2010) and Jordan and never felt anywhere near as at risk as I do when I'm in some U.S, Central or South American large cities. There is no comparison and the statistics bear that out. The violent crime rates there are far lower, if you exclude the wars.