Murder
February 3, 2007 6:31 AM Subscribe
Boy, Safari hates that map. That's a lotta dead people, though.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:54 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:54 AM on February 3, 2007
Where's Wallace, String? Where's Wallace?
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:58 AM on February 3, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:58 AM on February 3, 2007 [2 favorites]
Those maps are staggering. It's one thing to hear "a thousand people were murdered last year" and quite another to see a thousand blips on the radar. There doesn't seem to be a street that's been left unaffected by violence in DC or Baltimore.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:00 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:00 AM on February 3, 2007
Wow, those maps actually line up pretty well with what people generally think of as the "bad areas" of DC. I'm surprised at how well they line up.
posted by callmejay at 7:03 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by callmejay at 7:03 AM on February 3, 2007
Jebus.
(What do the little yellow bubbles mean? The murder wasn't bad enough to warrant a red bubble?)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:17 AM on February 3, 2007
(What do the little yellow bubbles mean? The murder wasn't bad enough to warrant a red bubble?)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:17 AM on February 3, 2007
Apparently, red is shooting, yellow is "other" strangled, shaken babby, etc. Blue is police killing, and white is self-defense. The one lone white bubble in 2006 sure makes the self-defense pro-handgun arguments seem a bit vapid.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:23 AM on February 3, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:23 AM on February 3, 2007 [1 favorite]
oh, woops. Preview. Preview.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:24 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:24 AM on February 3, 2007
What this map doesn't show is the per-capita murder rate for certain neighborhoods within DC. It is not a densely populated city, I think 800k? Montgomery County for comparison has over a million. What we call the "DC area" (DC, NoVA and 3 MD counties) maybe one in 8 actually live in the city. Yet DC is where the vast majority of the murders happen - and only within certain places in the city (NE and SE - 16th street is the kind of division).
posted by stbalbach at 7:42 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by stbalbach at 7:42 AM on February 3, 2007
If you liked that, you'll love chicagocrime.org. (previously.)
posted by louie at 7:52 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by louie at 7:52 AM on February 3, 2007
Devils Rancher - Washington DC has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the nation. Handguns in banned outright, which means that whatever you think of self-defense arguments, DC isn't going to give you any meaningful stats.
posted by Banky_Edwards at 9:23 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by Banky_Edwards at 9:23 AM on February 3, 2007
Handguns in banned outright, which means that whatever you think of self-defense arguments, DC isn't going to give you any meaningful stats.
I'm relieved to hear no-one is packin' heat in DC.
posted by docgonzo at 9:45 AM on February 3, 2007
I'm relieved to hear no-one is packin' heat in DC.
posted by docgonzo at 9:45 AM on February 3, 2007
Even down through Southern Maryland, it appears that West of the Potomac is where you want to be.
posted by itchylick at 9:50 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by itchylick at 9:50 AM on February 3, 2007
West of the Potomac is Virginia :)
Point taken though. SoMd has a lot of meth and, in the last 5 years or so, Oxycontin trafficing. Both of those substances destroy everything in their path.
Baltimore's more of a smack town.
posted by sidereal at 10:02 AM on February 3, 2007
Point taken though. SoMd has a lot of meth and, in the last 5 years or so, Oxycontin trafficing. Both of those substances destroy everything in their path.
Baltimore's more of a smack town.
posted by sidereal at 10:02 AM on February 3, 2007
Actually, those were all caused by McNulty's last legendary drinking binge.
Can I get scrapple with that?
posted by basicchannel at 10:32 AM on February 3, 2007
Can I get scrapple with that?
posted by basicchannel at 10:32 AM on February 3, 2007
Wouldn't "Homicide" have been a better title for this post?
Seriously, though: now I know why people look at me funny when I say my family lived near JHU.
posted by Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson at 10:44 AM on February 3, 2007
Seriously, though: now I know why people look at me funny when I say my family lived near JHU.
posted by Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson at 10:44 AM on February 3, 2007
Washington DC has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the nation. Handguns in banned outright, which means that whatever you think of self-defense arguments, DC isn't going to give you any meaningful stats.
At this point, there's so many handguns out there, I really doubt that restrictions are going to do much good in the short-term. If they were enacted and enforced nation-wide, we might see a decrease in gun ownership over a generation. It's just the 500/1 ratio of murders/self-defense killings that make the argument that I or you should own a gun seem specious. I have owned guns in the past, but no longer. Statistics seem to bear out that my odds of being shot are much lower without one in the house at all. Then again, I don't live in DC, for good reasons, apparently.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:00 AM on February 3, 2007
At this point, there's so many handguns out there, I really doubt that restrictions are going to do much good in the short-term. If they were enacted and enforced nation-wide, we might see a decrease in gun ownership over a generation. It's just the 500/1 ratio of murders/self-defense killings that make the argument that I or you should own a gun seem specious. I have owned guns in the past, but no longer. Statistics seem to bear out that my odds of being shot are much lower without one in the house at all. Then again, I don't live in DC, for good reasons, apparently.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:00 AM on February 3, 2007
I don't think the map shows "west of the potomac" (VA) stats. Don't let it fool you, Old Town is a veritable shooting gallery.
posted by stbalbach at 11:01 AM on February 3, 2007
posted by stbalbach at 11:01 AM on February 3, 2007
people look at me funny when I say my family lived near JHU
Charles Village, or Greenmount? There's a *cough* difference...
posted by sidereal at 11:06 AM on February 3, 2007
Charles Village, or Greenmount? There's a *cough* difference...
posted by sidereal at 11:06 AM on February 3, 2007
Bodymore, Murderland & The city that bleeds are just a few of the locals favorite names for their town.
Every time I go out there I love it though. Of course, I haven't been murdered yet.
posted by Mick at 11:27 AM on February 3, 2007
Every time I go out there I love it though. Of course, I haven't been murdered yet.
posted by Mick at 11:27 AM on February 3, 2007
Aren't crack and speed still popular in Baltimore?
Those maps graph almost like an illustrated plot: make the poor black areas of a city even poorer, flood the area with cheap drugs that fuel violence and cheap guns to be violent with, and ... profit! Especially considering that some of the areas that don't show a lot of murders recently -- Fells Point, Little Italy, etc. -- are recently "revitalized" for tourists and so on. Coincidentally, a few of that area's "projects" (notably Flag House Courts) were closed and imploded in the past few years, which would have been impossible had they still been heavily populated. (And no, the areas in the suburbs that the unmurdered blacks migrated to have not picked up as much "crime" as if "they brought it with 'em"; on quick scan, all I can manage now, it looks to me like the murders have gotten more concentrated in smaller areas of the City.)
If this keeps up Baltimore will no longer have a "race problem" to speak of.
posted by davy at 12:59 PM on February 3, 2007
Those maps graph almost like an illustrated plot: make the poor black areas of a city even poorer, flood the area with cheap drugs that fuel violence and cheap guns to be violent with, and ... profit! Especially considering that some of the areas that don't show a lot of murders recently -- Fells Point, Little Italy, etc. -- are recently "revitalized" for tourists and so on. Coincidentally, a few of that area's "projects" (notably Flag House Courts) were closed and imploded in the past few years, which would have been impossible had they still been heavily populated. (And no, the areas in the suburbs that the unmurdered blacks migrated to have not picked up as much "crime" as if "they brought it with 'em"; on quick scan, all I can manage now, it looks to me like the murders have gotten more concentrated in smaller areas of the City.)
If this keeps up Baltimore will no longer have a "race problem" to speak of.
posted by davy at 12:59 PM on February 3, 2007
sidereal: that's why they looked at me funny. I didn't specify it was near central campus, not the med school (not realizing the difference).
posted by Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson at 1:03 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson at 1:03 PM on February 3, 2007
Yeah, no murders in my block, quite close to Charles Village/Homewood.
posted by Grod at 2:07 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by Grod at 2:07 PM on February 3, 2007
Aren't crack and speed still popular in Baltimore?
Like there's a difference... yes, they are.
PontiFilter: drug addiction is racially insensitive.
If this keeps up Baltimore will no longer have a "race problem" to speak of.
Sorry, mac, it just doesn't work that way. If it did, it would have by now. Explication is outside the scope of this thread.
posted by sidereal at 2:29 PM on February 3, 2007
Like there's a difference... yes, they are.
PontiFilter: drug addiction is racially insensitive.
If this keeps up Baltimore will no longer have a "race problem" to speak of.
Sorry, mac, it just doesn't work that way. If it did, it would have by now. Explication is outside the scope of this thread.
posted by sidereal at 2:29 PM on February 3, 2007
Davy, Fells point is no longer fell. Thanks to gentrification, its not the same place that John Waters and his cohorts used to gallivant thru like a pack of metro-psycho minks on acid. And legend always had it that Little Italy was safe because the Mafia was merciless on disruptive street-punks.
I drove a night-shift cab in Baltimore for a couple of years in the early seventies, and I worked the Black neighborhoods because I wasn’t hard core enough to compete with the older drivers at the train station and other prime spots; and also because I kind of liked it. I saw things, like the 2AM carnival at closing time on Pennsylvania Avenue, that few white people could even imagine.
But I wouldn’t even think of trying that now... and its not just an inner city problem, and its not just a drug problem. The culture of violence is growing worldwide, and violence begets violence.
posted by Huplescat at 3:14 PM on February 3, 2007 [1 favorite]
I drove a night-shift cab in Baltimore for a couple of years in the early seventies, and I worked the Black neighborhoods because I wasn’t hard core enough to compete with the older drivers at the train station and other prime spots; and also because I kind of liked it. I saw things, like the 2AM carnival at closing time on Pennsylvania Avenue, that few white people could even imagine.
But I wouldn’t even think of trying that now... and its not just an inner city problem, and its not just a drug problem. The culture of violence is growing worldwide, and violence begets violence.
posted by Huplescat at 3:14 PM on February 3, 2007 [1 favorite]
Odinsdream - the duplicate is because the baby died in 2006. An older family member died at the same address in 2007.
posted by katillathehun at 3:38 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by katillathehun at 3:38 PM on February 3, 2007
Well this really cheers me up. My apartment's distance from the nearest homicide in 2006: 2 1/2 blocks. My apartment's distance from the nearest homicide in 2005: half a block.
Baltimore. Sigh.
posted by TBoneMcCool at 4:37 PM on February 3, 2007
Baltimore. Sigh.
posted by TBoneMcCool at 4:37 PM on February 3, 2007
The D.C. map is really interesting when you apply a mental map of the cities gentrification to it.
Columbia Heights between 05 and 06 seems to have had a major drop in murders, (which would make sense since its a residential area, and the Police basically follow the money in their fight on crime) but U street murders went up a staggering amount, which again makes sense as more people take their nights out there...
But then, those fancy new cameras that Chief Ramsey bought have put up everywhere make me feel nothing but safe...
BTW has anyone noticed that you NEVER see D.C. cops outside of their vehicles. It's like those guys asses are simply glued to their seats...
posted by stratastar at 6:04 PM on February 3, 2007
Columbia Heights between 05 and 06 seems to have had a major drop in murders, (which would make sense since its a residential area, and the Police basically follow the money in their fight on crime) but U street murders went up a staggering amount, which again makes sense as more people take their nights out there...
But then, those fancy new cameras that Chief Ramsey bought have put up everywhere make me feel nothing but safe...
BTW has anyone noticed that you NEVER see D.C. cops outside of their vehicles. It's like those guys asses are simply glued to their seats...
posted by stratastar at 6:04 PM on February 3, 2007
The culture of violence is growing worldwide, and violence begets violence.
this is why i wished someone would have said something to genghis khan before he really got rolling.
posted by Hat Maui at 7:30 PM on February 3, 2007
this is why i wished someone would have said something to genghis khan before he really got rolling.
posted by Hat Maui at 7:30 PM on February 3, 2007
Wow, it's just shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot, shot with the occasional beaten or stabbed thrown in.
posted by tomble at 9:07 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by tomble at 9:07 PM on February 3, 2007
Donte Manning, age 9, was shot and killed outside my building in 2005, at Euclid and 13th NW. His killer was never found, popular opinion citing the "no snitching" mentality, even though a large reward was offered. I still think about that little boy all the time.
posted by modavis at 5:54 PM on February 4, 2007
posted by modavis at 5:54 PM on February 4, 2007
sidereal: West of the Potomac is Virginia :)
stbalbach: I don't think the map shows "west of the potomac" (VA) stats. Don't let it fool you, Old Town is a veritable shooting gallery.
*smacks self on forehead*
The was quite overly-optimistic of me :) I will try thinking before typing next time.
posted by itchylick at 10:51 AM on February 5, 2007
stbalbach: I don't think the map shows "west of the potomac" (VA) stats. Don't let it fool you, Old Town is a veritable shooting gallery.
*smacks self on forehead*
The was quite overly-optimistic of me :) I will try thinking before typing next time.
posted by itchylick at 10:51 AM on February 5, 2007
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posted by Astro Zombie at 6:37 AM on February 3, 2007 [2 favorites]