Excaliber wrote:G26ster wrote:Based on the thread title, I'm a bit confused. Every crime rate calculator I look at shows Houston, TX has nearly twice the violent crime rate per 100k as NYC, and NYC has 4 times the population of Houston. What am I missing?
Total crimes and crime rate are different concepts.
Total crimes is the total number of crimes reported. Crime rate is the number of crimes per 100,000 persons in a given population.
Both numbers are influenced by the rate at which crimes are reported (in many rough neighborhoods where people have little confidence many crimes will be investigated or solved, they report in low numbers) and the consistency with which they are categorized by the local law enforcement agency.
These and other factors are why the FBI cautions not to use the UCR statistics as direct comparisons between cities.
So what is the basis (reliable statistics) for deciding/saying that NYC has a higher crime rate than Houston, or any other city?
Excaliber wrote:(in many rough neighborhoods where people have little confidence many crimes will be investigated or solved, they report in low numbers)
Wouldn't this be true for both NYC and Houston?