Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Rahmaland: The Deadliest Alpha City in the World

NBC Chicago reports:

Chicago likes to compare itself to other world cities, so Ward Room thought it would find out how we rank in violence. It turns out no one can top us. Among what are considered Alpha world cities, Chicago has the highest murder rate -- higher even than the Third World metropolises of Mexico City and Sao Paolo. Here’s how we rank in murders per 100,000 among cities we consider our peers, based on a projected murder total of 505 for this year.

Singapore 0.4
Tokyo 0.5
Hong Kong 0.6
Berlin 1.0
Sydney 1.0
London 1.4
Toronto 1.7
Amsterdam 1.8
Paris 4.4
New York 6.0
Los Angeles 7.5
Mexico City 8.0
Moscow 9.6
Sao Paolo 15.6
Chicago 19.4
(htTravisHolte)

23 comments:

  1. In a city where guns are outlawed.
    If more sane people were armed, the crazy people would get off less shots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This should not surprise anyone considering that Illinois does not allow law abiding citizens to have a gun to protect themselves. In most states citizens can obtain proper training to receive their concealed handgun license, but not in Illinois. So the ones with the guns are the law enforcement officers, which are a reactionary force, and the criminals. The law abiding citizen is at the mercy of criminals, which often do not show mercy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, that would be a really knock-down argument, if it were not for the fact that Singapore has strict gun control and a murder rate 40 times lower than Chicago's.

      Delete
    2. ...and a totally different population.

      Compare American cities to American cities. Preferably with similar size and racial profiles.

      Delete
    3. Males over 18 are issued automatic weapons in Switzerland. Almost no crime there. It's all about demographics.

      Delete
  3. Not exactly comparable , but Guyaquil in Ecuador boasted 26 homicides per 100.000 inhabitants in 2011, so it deserves at least an honorable mention in your list

    ReplyDelete
  4. São Paulo's numbers are outdated, it's even lower now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A curious assertion. São Paulo's homicide rate is now higher than it was on the list.

      Delete
  5. Looks like the old gun-grabbing, left-wing entitlement state is working out well.

    Who would'a thunk it....??!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Where is Beijing in the rankings? When I was there in January, wandering around at night in sparsely populated areas, I felt really safe even though I did not speak the language.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I live in MI. and have a CCL. I wouldn't even consider traveling through Il. let alone Chicago.

    ReplyDelete
  8. These statistics don't actually support owning guns. How many citizens in Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Berlin, Sydney & London own guns? It's pretty close to zero.

    Obviously in Chicago's case, the most expedient alternative for self defense is to legalize gun ownership. But there is something else involved here, because the six cities with the lowest murder rate don't allow guns. Concentrating on gun ownership is ignoring the very statistics in this report.

    There has got to be other factors involved here than simply lack of gun ownership. It could be the sociological upbringing of the citizens. It could be a decline in the achievement of social expectations of the citizens. It might very well be all three of these factors along with something else, but it is definitely not simply lack of gun ownership in Chicago.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Crime is by far the principal threat in Caracas, impacting both locals and foreigners in the city. As of August 2010, the murder rate in Caracas was 233 per 100,000 inhabitants, and continues to have one of the highest incidents of murder in the world."
    https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=11224

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's all about how the police and courts are NOT controlling gang activity. Estimates of 100,000 gang members are given in local media.The public schools are not able to successfully prepare kids for adult life - CPS has a very low graduation rate despite large amount of $$ spent per pupil. Much of the murder activity occurs in just a few neighborhoods, but many of the victims are innocent bystanders in gang-controlled areas. (Lifelong Chicago suburban resident)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Add-on point: it's the family's responsibility to prepare kids for adult life. Those aforementioned areas are populated by people with no hope, who are massively dependant on the state. "Community" is a hard-fought and rarely won aspect. I know: I worked for a Co. based in Lawndale for 6yrs and am a resident.
      And yeah, most violence is concentrated in these same areas. Think of the low side of Gary or Detroit (but with people still living there.) Though, its not too far off...

      Delete
  11. Cities where there is no "right to bear arms" are the SAFEST, according to you own quoted statistics. Open your eyes, and think about the last massacre -- unfortunately, NOT the last, by your own blind mind !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, the usual failure to understand that comparing apples to oranges is meaningless. Culture and population traits do matter.

      The better comparison is similar cities with different gun laws, or cities/countries which outlawed or legalized gun ownership.

      When you actually make valid comparison the result is always the same: *legal* private gun ownership reduces crime.

      In any case the original point was not about gun ownership, it was about cultural and legal propensity for socialism.

      Delete
  12. I wonder why Johannesburg was left off the list when it is number one by a wide margin: 43 murders per 100,000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg, citing http://www.mrc.ac.za/crime/nimmsreport2007.pdf). Perhaps it is because in Johannesburg almost everyone carries a gun? It seems to me that gun ownership and murders go hand-in-hand, not the reverse, as this article claims.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kudos. I'm going to go out on the limb and guess you're not a Chicagoan. The whole conceal and carry argument here is just thinly veiled racism. The murder by gunshot victims are almost exclusively poor inner city black people, sometimes little children and sometimes gang members. The responsible suburban people with shiny skin just want guns because they are scared. Not scared enough to give a shit about the very significant impoverished black communities, of course. It's not surprising. The gun community at large believes in all sorts of fairy tales, like this one...guns were used to overthrow British tyranny and establish this Christian nation PERIOD. The fact that the initial and primary purpose of said guns was to 'clear' the pesky Indians is a non-issue. It's an easy thing to forget...it only went on for like 275 years before the founding of the Republic. Yee-hee-haw!!!

      Delete
    2. Correct. Johannesburg was designated an Alpha city in 2010 which makes you wonder why it isn't on the list, although it now has a murder rate of between 25 and 30 per capita.

      They cut the murder rate significantly in the short period since 2007, probably because of the 2010 soccer world cup. Even so, it's easily higher than Chicago's 7 per 100,000 (nothing like 19).

      São Paulo and Mexico City also dwarf Chicago's murder rate. São Paulo is now between 15 and 20 per 100,000 while Mexico City is more than double it's cited figure! The original NBC article is a total mess.

      Thanks for posting though.

      Delete
  13. I'm actually surprised how low the numbers are.
    2 in 10,000. Wow that is a lot of people not killing other people.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 2 in 10,000

    or .0002 of the population is getting murdered.

    99.98 percent of the population is not getting murdered.

    Glass is certainly more than half full.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Johannesburg is the world's deadliest Alpha city (yes folks, it's Alpha). Putting Chicago ahead of São Paulo and Mexico City - whose already much higher murder rates in the last year or two have also increased - is funny. The list is a catastrophe and you wouldn't believe how many people take it seriously, it's scary.

    As I say, I appreciate you posting and that you weren't the original author. Whether you agree with it or not one cannot say. One truly hopes not, it's a horror.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete