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Comment by SketchySeaBeast | Hacker News Reader

If you look at the numbers, in 2023 Chicago there were 23.3 murders/ homicides per 100,000 population, about 0.02% of the population, which is a statistic that totally ignores if there's specific patterns to these homicides.

For perspective, in 2022 42,514 people in the US died in car accidents, which works out to about 0.01% of the population, so about half that rate. Would you say the fear of Chicago is more or less than twice the fear of driving?

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> there's specific patterns to these homicides

There are specific patterns (albeit probably not as strong) to deaths in car accidents. Why ignore one and not the other?

Totally fair point. I thought about calling it out specifically when I was writing, but I assumed that calling out it in the previous paragraph would also imply it with driving - high mileage or unsafe drivers are going to be more likely to be killed. Does it distract from my overall point, and if so, how does that change things knowing that I'm aware of and conceding the point?

Lol having lived in Chicago and Cleveland let me explain how it works.

They're not probably going to kill you. They're going to just take your shit, maybe beat the shit out of you or knock you out if you resist. In my case, I managed to call their bluff and they did not pull the trigger, I punched them and then managed to narrowly get away.

If you live in these rough neighborhoods are you going to call the police, have their jacked up corrupt policeman show up, basically releasing a wild hyena in your home with access to secret torture sites[0]? Just to hear "sorry for your luck, we can write a report and then do nothing about it, but maybe open an investigation on you."

No, you're going to buy a gun/knife, spend some time at the range, be ready for next time, and go on with your life. This shit doesn't show up in the statistics like it would for podunk town.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homan_Square_facility

So you're agreeing that you're not going to get killed?

You're probably not going to get killed in an actual war either, I would still want a gun and worry about what others might do with theirs.

Seems like an extremely low bar?

It would be safe to assume that for every random (non gang related) person who is killed there are many times more assaulted or robbed.

The violent crime rate for Chicago seems to be 639.7 / 100,000[1]. The united states seems to be 380.7 / 100,000[2], so it's not even double the average. This also makes Chicago safer than DC, and the entire states of New Mexico, Alaska, and Arkansas[2]. How many people are scared of going to Alaska due to all the violent crime?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Chicago [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

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