A bit of research will reveal that most of the US cities with high crime rates also host significant numbers of black residents — who are usually highly sequestered within particular neighborhoods. The graphic below indicates the type of statistical discrepancy that can be found between different neighborhoods inside the same city limits.

In high crime cities, a black person must work hard if he is to move himself and his family to a safer part of town. This urge to move to a safer place helps motivate those who are willing to do what it takes to escape the malevolent world around them.

In the US, correlation between proportion of black population and murder rates can be quite high overall. The graphic below looks at correlation coefficients between proportion of different ethnic groups in the population, and violent crime rates.



Within the Americas, one finds significant discrepancies in murder rates as well. North America and parts of South America such as Argentina/Uruguay have low murder rates on average. But Central America, the Caribbean, and nations such as Venezuela and Brazil have quite high murder rates.



One of the best ways to reduce a country’s homicide rates is to neglect to include most murders in your homicide statistics. This approach has worked for many nations in Africa. It also helps keeps departmental budgets down for public statistics bureaus. That money can be better spent by government officials on vacations to Switzerland, with a little banking business on the side. 😉

There are differences in gene alleles between different breeding populations, which helps to partially account for ethnic differences in violent crime rates. Gene alleles predisposing to violence are more common in subgroups of various breeding groups.

In central America and the Caribbean we see the confluence of genetic factors with a prominence of gangs and a very violent drug trade. Put it all together and rates of homicide are the highest in the world in Latin America and the Caribbean (as far as we can tell by the statistics which are kept).

It’s a dangerous world out there — both in particular countries and in particular cities and neighborhoods within generally low-crime countries. Best to stay alert, and make yourself Dangerous.