Charotte 8th Most Dangerous city for Violent Crime in USA

[uptownliving]

And that goes back to my comments about education earleir. Nearly 50% of Raleigh has a Bachelors, Masters, or Doctorate degree. That compares with about 35% of Charlotte that has those same degrees.

It is common sense that people who attain these levels of education are much less likely to commit violent crime than those who don't.

[monsoon]

According to the US Census, the percentages of people who have a bachelor's degree or higher for the two cities are:

• Charlotte - 36.4%

• Raleigh - 44.9%

.

The 8% difference would not seem to be enough to warrant the huge difference in the crime levels.

[nowensone]

8.5% when you are talking about transfats, for example, may not be significant, but in terms of college degrees, I think it is. Not that it is directly attributable to crime rates, but I think it is enough to significantly change the character of a place. That 8.5% probably means a large boost in percentage of wealth and taxable income and therefore a larger budget [proportionally] for Raleigh as well, not to mention 8.5% less of a lower income bracket where most crime originates.

[stadtguy]

For a city of 500,000 (assuming they are 25 or older) that 8.5% difference would account for about 40,000 folks, some of whom are engaged in white collar crime but typically not out car-jacking their fellow citizens.

[nowensone]

Stealing pens from the office or corporate embezzlement?

Actually, good side point, forgot about white collar crime, since it does account for nearly all theft dollar-wise, but not many people live in fear of the off-shore ahemtaxshelterahem corporation.

[uptownliving]

According to the US Census, the percentages of people who have a bachelor's degree or higher for the two cities are:

• Charlotte - 36.4%

• Raleigh - 44.9%

.

The 8% difference would not seem to be enough to warrant the huge difference in the crime levels.

[monsoon]

^Oh I certainly believe that education or lack thereof, makes a huge difference in the crime. What I am saying however is that the population of Raleigh vs Charlotte isn't that different in that regard. Remember the stats are reported on a per/capita basis, not total crime.

I really don't know why there is so much more crime in Charlotte than Raleigh when for all practical purposes they ought to be close to each other. Maybe the difference is in annexation as it is difficult to compare city limits, even within the same state.

[krazeeboi]

According to the US Census, the percentages of people who have a bachelor's degree or higher for the two cities are:

• Charlotte - 36.4%

• Raleigh - 44.9%

.

The 8% difference would not seem to be enough to warrant the huge difference in the crime levels.

[monsoon]

^Not really.... Percent with a bachelor's degree or higher (from census)

• Mecklenburg - 37.1%

• Wake - 43.0%

I am not going to calculate it for the rest of the metro but I really don't think there is a huge difference in the two areas. BTW, for all practical purposes, Wake and Mecklenburg have the same population.

[CSP]

Charlotte's metro crime rate is also pushed up by Gastonia. That city has a surprising amount of crime for its size.

Gastonia, a city of 67,000, in 2004, had:

7 homicides

40 Rapes

273 Robberies

427 Assaults

1,258 Burglaries

4,600 Thefts

548 Auto Thefts

---

There seems to be a trend in this thread to deny that Charlotte has a crime problem. It does indeed have a problem, and while the violent crime is mostly limited to select regions, and demographics, it's imperative that something be done. First, an accountable police chief needs to be brought it. Second, community policing needs to be abandoned. Third, we need to optimize, add judges, add prosecutors to the courts system. Finally, we need to arrest and imprison for small offenses, like graffiti or vandalism - nail the career criminals before they do something that results in the death, or injury, of an innocent.

[uptownliving]

Something else that I have always thought increased Charlotte's crime rate is that it is a Transportation Hub. That means a lot of stuff flows into and out of Charlotte and that includes the illegal stuff as they use a lot of the same transportation networks that the legal stuff uses.

Illegal trade tends to draw criminals...and violent ones at that.

[crimeincharlotte]

Maybe these stats are taken somewhat out of context and aren't that accurate, but it is still hard to ignore the example presented in the blog metro linked to earlier - a person being arrested 42 times in 8 years, almost always for repeat offenses (same crimes), and to not be punished, including for a few violent crimes/homicide. People fall through the cracks everwhere, but this many times? This guy would have to look familiar to judges and cops alike after this many incidents. Anyway, back to my point - this reads like what goes on in New Orleans, where almost no one gets prosecuted much less convicted. Is this how things are getting in CLT?

[krazeeboi]

Hey, Don't forget Rock Hill. Areaconnect.com Rock Hill CS

[monsoon]

I am the owner of the blog metro posted earlier in the thread. I wish I could say I was exaggerating when I posted about the repeat criminal Kendrick Hammond. He has been arrested 45 times in Charlotte since 1998, including for murder. All of this information is public and I invite you to take a peek for yourself. Go to DOC Website (Link) check all the boxes & and enter prisoner ID: 0676364. This will show you all his information from 1998-2005. You have to go to the [url=http://mcmf.co.mecklenburg.nc.us:3007/cjin01w/cjjl/webnull]Mecklenburg Sheriff

[bork]

Something else that I have always thought increased Charlotte's crime rate is that it is a Transportation Hub. That means a lot of stuff flows into and out of Charlotte and that includes the illegal stuff as they use a lot of the same transportation networks that the legal stuff uses.

Illegal trade tends to draw criminals...and violent ones at that.

[cinco]

I am the owner of the blog metro posted earlier in the thread. I wish I could say I was exaggerating when I posted about the repeat criminal Kendrick Hammond. He has been arrested 45 times in Charlotte since 1998, including for murder. All of this information is public and I invite you to take a peek for yourself. Go to DOC Website (Link) check all the boxes & and enter prisoner ID: 0676364. This will show you all his information from 1998-2005. You have to go to the [url=http://mcmf.co.mecklenburg.nc.us:3007/cjin01w/cjjl/webnull]Mecklenburg Sheriff

[uptownliving]

Here is some info on the status of the local Court system. I pulled this info from the Charlotte Homicide Task Force

• The criminal justice system in Charlotte is under-funded, understaffed and overwhelmed by the demands

• Mecklenburg County has 9% of the state's population but 20% of its violent index crime, 15% of the property index crime and 9% of the court cases.

• Despite the volume of offenses, Mecklenburg County receives only 6.7% of the state's judicial budget.

• There are only 936 trial days in District Court, causing some cases to be disposed of in two minutes or less.

• There are 456 felony trial days, resulting in two to three year delays in felony trials.

• There is a high rate of turnover in the District Attorney's Office and Probation and Parole lacks the resources to track the 8,000 people on probation in Mecklenburg County

• Most local criminal justice administrators cite better and more integrated information systems as a critical need.

• In Mecklenburg County, more money is spent on Animal Control ($5,228,527) than on the District Attorney's Office ($4,000,000).

Charlotte vs. Portland Criminal Justice System Comparison

Charlotte, NC / Portland, OR

Population

688,003 / 545,271

ADAs

52 / 86*

Support Staff

38 / 132

Judges

26 / 38

Judges Assistants

4 / 38

PDs

40 / 50

Felony Cases Disposed

8,802 / 6,287

*Felony Only

[monsoon]

It's actually worse than that because the court system here serves the entire county not just the city of Charlotte so the population comparison to Portland is more like 780K vs 545K. Of course I can't imagine that the surrounding towns add that much to the violent crime rate as I think there has only been 1 murder in Huntersville in the last 10 years and that was two young college type guys fighting over a woman. One of them stabbed the other in the fight then when he realized what he did, he started crying.

[crimeincharlotte]

welcome. your blog is very informative.

there is one thing that i've noticed lately... it seems alot of times on the news (also, in your blog) that there is a picture provided of the victim. i've noticed that many of those pictures are mug shots. i wonder what the percentages are for victims who have also been offenders? if we knew that and carved it out of charlotte's overall crime - what would we be left with? i, for one, am not concerned with those who choose to live by the sword only to die by it. the best scenario for crime is when it eats itself.

[cinco]

^ (in response to court info) who do we need to write about this outrage. is it just me, or does it feel like other than a "rap" sheet, your more likely to be punished for a traffic violation than a robbery.

[uptownliving]

Your State Representative is the person you need to contact. The State of NC is responsible for the Court System.

[nowensone]

there is one thing that i've noticed lately... it seems alot of times on the news (also, in your blog) that there is a picture provided of the victim. i've noticed that many of those pictures are mug shots. i wonder what the percentages are for victims who have also been offenders? if we knew that and carved it out of charlotte's overall crime - what would we be left with? i, for one, am not concerned with those who choose to live by the sword only to die by it. the best scenario for crime is when it eats itself.

[28202]

Did I read that correctly? more spent on animal control than on the DA's office?

In Mecklenburg County, more money is spent on Animal Control ($5,228,527) than on the District Attorney's Office ($4,000,000).

[monsoon]

For you guys that are looking to flip or renovate homes in Charlotte please be careful. Two guys were standing in the lot of a business on Shamrock at the fringes of the Plaza/Midwood neighborhood and were discussing a house for sale across the street. Two armed masked approached them and one of the individuals got shot in broad daylight at 11:30am.

You can read more about it here. This would go down as a violent crime statistic.

[DanRNC]

I knew someone who worked as an assistant DA in Charlotte and told me they had to use old/random paper to submit briefs on. To make a statement he submitted one on pink paper to the judge. They also got their computers as throw aways from the Dept. of Social Services. Needless to say, he is no longer a DA.