Social Cohesion: Crime
Of course, the biggest sign of social disconnection is violent crime.
Violent Crime, 2005
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UMKC Center of Economic Information, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, Kansas Bureau of Investigation,
Johnson County Sun. Violent crime is defined as rape, robbery, assault and homicide.
Only Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., provided small-area crime data (i.e., by census tract).
For other cities, the dots are randomly scattered within the city boundaries.
While violent crime has many causes, the strong association of violent crime with concentrated poverty is evident when comparing the two on maps. Unfortunately, only poor minorities live in concentrated poverty, the majority of whom are African-American.
Blacks in Poverty, 2000
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Because of their high rates of crime, areas of concentrated poverty gain a reputation of being "bad" parts of town that many people avoid. Since these areas are inhabited primarily by poor blacks, this creates a kind of "guilt by association" that hurts the region's social cohesion.
Violent Crime per 1,000 People in Largest Central Cities
of Peer Metros, 2000-2004
View
data in .xls format
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Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
The Kansas City region's relatively more concentrated poverty is matched by a higher than average violent crime rate in its central cities. While violent crime rates declined slightly between 2000 and 2004, from 17 to 15 per thousand people, this remains the second highest rate among its peers.
Crime data is reported by city rather than by metropolitan area, and not all cities report to the FBI. The central city comparison illustrated above is the most consistent measure across metropolitan areas. It compares only the largest central city in each peer metro. In our case, this is Kansas City, Mo. (Kansas City, Kan., did not report this crime data for several years.)
Keep in mind that central cities differ greatly in their degree of urban vs. suburban development. Kansas City, Mo., has relatively large amounts of suburban land within its boundaries, which might be expected to produce a downward bias in the violent crime rate. This makes its comparatively high crime rate more significant.
Estimated Metropolitan Violent Crime Rate for Peer Metros, 2004
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In 2004, the FBI began estimating crime rates for metropolitan areas, using available data for cities that didn't provide detailed reports. According to this estimate, the Kansas City region has the highest violent crime rate of any of its peer metropolitan areas.
Despite the fact that most parts of the region are very safe, the conditions that create an environment conducive to violent crime are either deeper or more widespread here than in the region's peers.
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