Homicide rates in NYC vs Chicago .AND. Trains, Planes and Automobiles

It is a curious thing that the homicide rate in Illinois urban areas where the victims are Black is 510% that of the homicide rate in New York urban areas.

The internet gives the credit to New York's "community based interventions", "focused law enforcement strategies" and "investments in public safety".

I have to call Bull-shit on that. I refuse to believe that Illinois/Chicago hasn't thrown money at all of those fashionable buzz-words.

By all practical measures, both states have draconian gun laws, so that cannot be the reason.

I doubt that the people in NYC are inherently "better". NYC has a greater percentage of Blacks from the Caribbean than Chicago but the murder rates in Jamaica and Trinidad/Tobago are the worst in the Western Hemisphere so it is difficult to make the case that the origin of the population is the difference.

The best I can come up with is that a person contemplating murdering somebody has an easier time fleeing the scene of the crime in Chicago vs NYC. What is a thug in NYC going to do? Call a cab? Ride the subway?

I suspect that congestion and traffic gridlock are what make NYC safer in terms of homicide risk than most other major cities, not the policies.

Why does it matter? Reality always wins. Sometimes it takes a while, but delusions are very expensive to maintain while conforming to objective reality is the path to success. The implications are that thugs have more impulse control when they know that there will be consequences for their actions. 

The Black community is the community that is most victimized by crime. The Black community is also the community that has received the most "social justice" and "criminal justice reform". Perhaps, given enough time, the murder-rates in NYC will match Chicago's as wannabe-thugs realize that getting caught will only result in their getting a free dinner in the Graybar Hotel that night and a cab-ride to the destination of their choice in the morning.

Any thoughts on other causes for the Chicago/NYC differences will be much appreciated. 

John Candy

From the final sequence of the movie

Trains, Planes and Automobiles is my favorite Thanksgiving movie. It is a masterpiece and John Candy was a genius. Lots of people have favorite Christmas movies. Not as many people talk about "Thanksgiving" movies.