St. Louis, Missouri, was ranked as the most crime-ridden city in the U.S.
Camden, New Jersey, has reason to celebrate today. It is no longer ranked as the most dangerous city in America.
Camden is now the second most crime-ridden city, second to St. Louis, Missouri, according to CQ Press, which annually publishes reference books based on academic and government data. The most violent city list is based on the FBI's 2009 uniform crime statistics covering murder, rape, burglary, robbery, aggravated assault and vehicle theft.
According to CQ, St. Louis had over 2,000 crimes per 100,000 residents, compared to the national average of about 430 crimes per the same number of residents. For the second straight year, Colonie, a suburb of Albany, New York, had the least crime.
But such rankings tend to be oversimplifications, experts say. What's more, the FBI discourages using its stats to make sweeping generalizations about crime and whole cities, said John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Andrew Karmen. He specializes in crime statistics and has written extensively about how they can be manipulated or presented in a biased way.
"When you look at these rankings and lists, the findings fall apart," he said. Crime reporting is nuanced and is affected by factors that can differ from one zip code to another, much less one city to another.
CQ, which sells its book on the findings for $70, acknowledges that, said spokesman Ben Krasney.
"The data is not flawless," he said. "We're a reference publisher, a starting point for other research. Crime rates within boundaries of a city – whether one neighborhood has more crime than another – we don't get into that."
Karmen said it's important to consider how, why and when crime is reported in different cities. If a police department is perceived as friendly, a welcoming place to file a report or come forward as a victim, crime stats are going to appear higher, for example.
Although "uniform" crime statistics are supposed to be just that, crime classification can vary. Vehicular manslaughter might not always be classified as murder, but rather a crime involving a vehicle, he said.
The faltering economy is also a huge factor in crime data.
CQ reports that the top five most violent cities in America, from first to fifth, are St. Louis; Camden; Detroit, Michigan; Flint, Michigan; and Oakland, California.
"Consider the industrial aspects of some of those cities and what has happened with jobs and those markets in the past few years," said Karmen. "The whole picture cannot be fairly reduced to a list."
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Another majority African-American city setting the bar for urban life in America.
Well, at least Camden isn't number one anymore .... sigh
Look at who resides in that city.....
These are the same fools who said Chicago is the worst city just a month ago. By January they will say Detroit is the worst city. In March it will be Philadelphia. There just pulling random "urban" city names out of a bag.
Because it is the truth, all your cities are crimeridden and pathetic. Bismarck is all right and maybe Pierre.. but that is it.
just maybe...Helene and Butte!!! That is definitly it.. including Calais Me.
I was born and grew up in St. Louis and the area does get a bad rap in one reason because the city of St. Louis and the county of St. Louis are two seperate places. Yes St. Louis CITY has some major crime problems, but the metro St. Louis area as a whole is not all that bad. Over 2 million people live in the St. Louis metro area and you take the really crime ridden area of the city and you get a whole new number.
Once again,I see that my hometown of Oakland made #5 on the list of 10.Unfortunately this town will not go down the list much.For a town of about 380,000,this is too high on the list.I don't see much change at the rate this town compiles crime stats.Glad I left it behind!
CQ Press is a joke and has almost ZERO credibility. You could take five 3rd graders who could do a much better job of this. Seriously, there are so many flaws in this list that it's pitiful. Thing is, CQ Press knows that.
These lists aren't even necessary are they?
Everyone knows that crime follows dense populations of poverty.
I live right outside of STL and I would have to agree, every time I turn on the local news its CRIME all over. It has started to leak out of the city into the suburbs and trust me, it is getting worse. I can't wait to move my family far far away from here. I know I cannot run from crime but at least we can go to an area with less stupid crimes abound like here in STL metro area.
St. Louis does suck. I lived there for about five years and am so happy and grateful I moved away. Its a miserable awful place full of miserable awful people. Everytime something bad happens there, I chuckle to myself. Good to see the public is getting exposed to the realities of that crime ridden city. PS- the very worst parts of that area aren't even City proper...they are the West County suburbs. Spoiled, drug addicted, overly priveleged people who think they are above the law and get away with it all cause they have no problem lying, cheating and stealing even from to their own mom. Nice. Let's all visit STL...no thanks!!
@thatwill do – "PS- the very worst parts of that area aren't even City proper...they are the West County suburbs. Spoiled, drug addicted, overly priveleged people who think they are above the law and get away with it all cause they have no problem lying, cheating and stealing even from to their own mom. "
Obviously, you *did* live here in West St. Louis County!
I found just the opposite. I have lived in the St. Louis suburbs for 35 years, and have never experienced crime, except on nightly news. I love it here.
the poor are the scourge of thiscrime blight across the u.s a. [not biblical or poor from great depression] the new poor if the donald gets in 2012 will ship them all out
St. Louis; Camden; Detroit, Michigan; Flint, Michigan; and Oakland, California
All those cities have a high percentage of you know what. But Oakland? Oakland is only around 6% I believe.
Totally agree. We have lived in Oakland FOREVER! Not a single crome was commited on us.................
No place is safe in The(USA) United Slavestates of America, all your cities are crimeridden and the rest are in your overcrowded prisons. Country full of illiterate pathetic morons.
Anywhere in the U.S. beats living anywhere else in the world. You sound like a Frenchy!
St. Louis born. Now living in the arm pit of the world...Washington, D.C.. St. Louis is a great town.
You dare say St Louis is better than DC??? What are you some kind of moron? I bet you can't make a quarter of the salary you are making in DC back St Louis. If you hate DC that bad, then move back to St Louis. I'll help you pack your bags.
I am a rapist, I marry children...Allahu Ackbar!