DETROIT CRIME RATE

With a crime rate of 63.13 incidents per 1,000 residents, the city of Detroit routinely competes for the top position as America’s most dangerous city. With the decline of the American auto industry during the last recession, Detroit was hit hard during a time when it could ill afford it. The following graphs are meant to bring light to Detroit’s struggle with in a manner that is to simply present the factual trends. One can derive what meaning they choose from them, but the truth is incontrovertible.

Another telling graph, the entire state of Michigan witnesses 4.49 incidents of crime per 1,000 residents. This is slightly above the U.S. average which is 3.81 incidents per 1,000 residents. However, the city of Detroit rings in at 20.08 incidents of crime per 1,000 residents. It is clear that Detroit crime is a major driver of total Michigan crime and the state’s total crime rate would look dramatically different if Detroit were not taken into account.

This particular graph breaks down violent crime into the major categories of muder, rape, robbery and assault. It is important to note that robbery is defined as an act to take property from a person with the use of force or the threat of force. In every category, the violent crime rate is exponentially higher than the state rate. The largest margin takes place within the murder category. At a rate of 0.39 incidents of murder, Detroit endures incidents of murder at over 6 times the rate of the state of Michigan.

This particular graph breaks down violent crime into the major categories of muder, rape, robbery and assault. It is important to note that robbery is defined as an act to take property from a person with the use of force or the threat of force. In every category, the violent crime rate is exponentially higher than the state rate. The largest margin takes place within the murder category. At a rate of 0.39 incidents of murder, Detroit endures incidents of murder at over 6 times the rate of the state of Michigan.

Comparing 2017 and 2018 side by side, one can see that violent crime by any type has not changed much from year to year. Murder, robbery, and assault all went down by a small margin, while rape did jump by nearly 48% from 2017 to 2018. This could reflect either a higher number of incidents or simply a higher number reporting of incidents from one year to the next.

In another telling graph, it is worth noting that when it comes to property crime, Michigan comes in vastly below the national rates. At only 16.53 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents, Michigan sees property crime at only 3/4th the level of the United States as a whole. Yet, Detroit rings in at 43.05 incidents of property crime per 1,000 residents. Again, with Detroit being a primary driver for crime in Michigan, the state statistics would look radically different with taking those numbers into account.

In this graph, one can see how Detroit drives property crime numbers in the state of Michigan by type. Broken down into the three major categories of burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft, you can see the scope of the problem in more detail. It is important to note that burglary is an act of theft that typically involves a structure of some sort. Detroit witnesses 11.08 incidents of burglary per 1,000 residents whereas the state of Michigan totals 3.17 incidents per 1,000 residents. Motor vehicle theft continues to be a major problem for the city as at 9.61 incidents per 1,000 residents, it is six times higher than the state rates.

Remembering that Detroit accounts for 0.21% of the total U.S. population, one can see that burglary and motor vehicle theft continue to be the primary property crime struggles for Detroit. The city accounts for only 0.29% of the incidents of theft in the United States which is much more in line with what its population would suggest. Also when taken into context with the same graph above measuring violent crime, it notes that violent crime continues to be the primary threat faced by Detroit residents.

In this graph, we have a side by side comparison of property crime by type from 2017 to 2018. It demonstrates that the various property crimes take place at a fairly consistent proportion to one another from one year to the next. Theft continues to be the primary driver and saw a significant jump from 2017 to 2018. However, both burglary and theft did drop from 2017 to 2018.