Comparing crime

Posted at 5:46 PM on November 20, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The naming of Detroit as the least safe city in the United States is causing some consternation in Detroit, oddly enough. But a Minnesota law professor is in the fray, too.

The American Society of Criminology discounted the report from an arm of the Congressional Quarterly magazine, calling it "an irresponsible misuse" of crime data.

University of Minnesota law professor Michael Tonry, the society's president, said "the rankings were unfair because of the different way that cities east of the Mississippi River formed. Those cities are older and have not grown -- and some have even decayed. Newer cities have grown by incorporating new housing developments," according to the Los Angeles Times, which focused on Mission Viejo because... well, let's just say it's no Detroit.

Minneapolis was excluded from the study because of incomplete data (But it's still #1 in the best cities to live well).

Minneapolis publishes its crime data online on a weekly basis, including the "shots fired" map.

One could, if one were of a mind, compare sections of the city, the same way cities are compared to one another. That would make the Nokomis neighborhood Minneapolis' Mission Viejo. And Near North is Detroit. But once you know that -- if you didn't know it already -- what difference does it make?

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