I went to see Bowling for Columbine - a documentary on the causes of violence in
America. It's certainly entertaining amd I think worth a watch. Anyway - I didn't
particularly like the conclusion though it was presented in a very entertaining way. It
turned out this was more of a mystery movie to me than a documentary, What DOES cause the high murder rate in the US?

It was pointed out that Canada has a much lower murder rate in the US and it also has a very
high gun ownership rate. At another point in the movie - they show how the ghetto in one
Canadian city isn't much of a ghetto compared to US ghettos.

I put those together and took a guess that maybe the high murder rate in the US is because
there are lots of ghettos. The US has lots of medium to large cities with fairly segregated
neighborhoods. Those "hoods" are filled with the drug trade and lots of gun violence. Could
it be true?

The murder rate for blacks in 1995 was 7x than for whites. Now, I couldn't find a per
neighborhood breakdown but I would be willing to bet that it was 7x higher for blacks living
in the hood and not in Hollywood.

Here are the top 15 cities in the "segregation list" - those cities with the most
segregated populations. (Collins and Williams, 1999).

Most Segregated Cities (1990 )
1. Atlanta, GA
2. Cleveland, OH
3. Detroit, MI
4. Chicago, IL
5. Gary, IN
6. Jackson, MS
7. Baltimore, MD
8. Washington, DC
9. St. Louis, MO
10. Birmingham, AL
11. Philadelphia, PA
12. Memphis, TN
13. Newark, NJ
14. Dayton, OH
15. Flint, MI

Here are the top 15 cities ranked by homicide rate:

1990 Homicide Rates by Cities
1. Baltimore
2. Detroit
3. Washington DC
4. St. Louis
5. Richmond
6. Atlanta
7. New Orleans
8. Birmingham
9. Kansas City
10. Newark
11. Baton Rouge
12. Las Vegas
13. Chicago
14. Milwaukee
15. Philadelphia

You don't have to be a mathematician to see that more than half of the list is shared. This
is pretty astounding give the number of cities in the United States. Note, the largest city
in the US, New York is not on either list, nor is Los Angeles.

Segregated probably means each of these cities has a heavily populated ghetto.

Stay out of the ghetto, kids.

Sorry Colin, I started to read your post, then got bored when I started reading stats ;). I guess it goes back to my College Sociology classes or something...

Anyway, I saw a cool T-Shirt the other day:

"Guns don't kill people. I do."

I'll try to stay out of the ghetto :)



Last edited by T-Rav at Nov 5 2002, 11:05 AM

no wonder I'm confused
I thought it was the BULLETS that killed people

Ban blood!!!! Frequently people die from loss of blood.

Bullets don't kill people ... blood loss does!

T-Rav,

For every statistic or fomula appearing in a post you can half the number of people that will read it in it's entirety.

I am too worn out from my previous posts to get out what I need to.

But Colin you are right, the Ghetto is a quick place to get shot. Good to see NO up high on some list! hahaha

I guess this would explain why I am looking to set up shop in Tampa!

Is that a statistic? B)

Funny you said that - I have heard of a research paper that showed a good part of the reduction in the US homicide rate in the US was because of improved medical practices saving a higher percentage of the victims.

I haven't read it, but it's an interesting idea.

Conjecture.

Really?

hmmm I wonder Colin, why would NYC not be in the top 15 of that list?

I saw bowling for columbine too, and its something everyone should see.


personally, I think the conclusion that was drawn from the movie was that violence is so high in the USA because americans live in fear.

Would be hard to sum it up, but go see the movie :)



also, it sure makes Canada look like a safe place ;)

I think it means Manhattan has a lot more people than Harlem ;-)