Out of 354 cities, in fact, Memphis is listed as the 13th most dangerous city to live in with Camden, NJ listed as the most dangerous and Newton, MA as the safest. On another list of 32 cities that contain approximately 500,000 or more as population, Memphis is listed as the 4th most dangerous city to live in with Detroit being the most dangerous. Another list studied the safety of 320 Metropolitan areas, and concluded that out of the 25 most dangerous metropolitan areas, Memphis ranked second. Memphis, in other words, does not seem to be the city that one having free choice would be recommended to select for his or her habitation.
Crime in Memphis, Tennessee.
Surprisingly, Memphis seems to have one of the largest crime rates in the United States, although these crime rates are cyclical.
Memphis' national most recent median for crime rate is 4.0, which is considered quite high. You have 1 in 62 chances of becoming a crime victim in Memphis whereas in the entire state of Tennessee you have only 1 in 163 chances of becoming a crime victim.
Violent crimes
As per violent crimes, these are the rates per the population of 646,889 per 1000 individuals:
Murder -- 14% or approximately 89 individuals
Rape- 65% or approximately 422 individuals
Robbery -- 5.01% or approximately 3,241 individuals
Assault -- 10.27% or approximately 6,641 individuals
Commentary: Assault seems to be the most violent crime followed by robbery, rape, and murder. The numbers of each are striking, particularly considering the percentage of theft and rape with more than half of the population experiencing this.
When compared to the United States rate for each of these crimes in total (out of a population of 308,745,538 per 1000 individuals), what you have is the following:
5. Murder -- 0.05% or approximately 14,748 individuals
6. Rape- 0.27% or approximately 84,767 individuals
7. Robbery -- 1.19% or approximately 367,832 individuals
8. Assault -- 2.52 or approximately 778,901 individuals
The rate then for this city is extraordinary high.
Memphis property crime rates
As regards Memphis property crime rates
Your chance of becoming a victim is 1 in 15 in Memphis as opposed to 1 in 27 in Tennessee. The national median for this is 29.4
Property crime rates are divided into the following categories (these are the rates per the population of 646,889 per 1000 individuals):
1. Burglary- 20.31% of 1000 people in Memphis experience this. The corollary is 13,141 individuals
2. Theft- 39.24 of 1000 people in Memphis experience this. The corollary is 25,386 individuals
3. Motor vehicle theft -- 6.09% of 1000 people in Memphis experience this. The corollary is 3,938 individuals
Theft, as we noticed before, seems to be a major component of the city. Also apparently, the more violent the theft, the more frequent, as notice that motor vehicle theft is less than theft with burglary being the most major component. 'Theft' probably refers to minor larceny.
When compared to the United States rate for each of these crimes in total (out of a population of 308,745,538 per 1000 individuals), what you have is the following:
4. Burglary- 7.00% of 1000 people in USA experience this. The corollary is 2,159,878 individuals
5. Theft- 20.04 of 1000 people in Memphis experience this. The corollary is 6,185,867indivdiuals
Motor vehicle theft -- 2.39% of 1000 people in Memphis experience this. The corollary is 737,142 individuals (Neighborhood Scout Crime rates for Memphis, TN).
When compared to the nation as a whole, Memphis seems to have an unusually high environment of burglary and other crimes related to theft. For some reason, Memphis' climate fosters an environment where an inordinate amount of people become victims of robbery and the state seems to experience some of the highest rates of larceny in the nation.
Memphis: general safety assessment
These indications of Memphis's tendency towards crime is reinforced by a contrast between the amount of crimes per square mile that occur in Tennessee, and between the amount of crimes per square mile that occur in Memphis.
The amounts of crimes per square mile that occur in Tennessee are only approximately 5.
Those that occur in Memphis, on the other hand, are a staggering 126 per year. This is way beyond the national median of crimes that occur per square mile that is 39.3 (Conley, 2009).
Out of 354 cities, in fact, Memphis is listed as the 13th most dangerous city to live in with Camden, NJ listed as the most dangerous and Newton, MA as the safest.
On another list of 32 cities that contain approximately 500,000 or more as population, Memphis is listed as the 4th most dangerous city to live in with Detroit being the most dangerous (Conley, 2009).
Another list studied the safety of 320 Metropolitan areas, and concluded that out of the 25 most dangerous metropolitan areas, Memphis ranked second (Conley, 2009).
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