Humanities Homework Help

The question: Many new home owners examine the crime rate in order to determine which neighborhoods will bring them a good quality of life. Neighborhoods and cities with low crime rates seem to be associated with higher desirability for prospective new residents. To what degree are crime statistics an accurate measuring rod for one’s quality of life? What makes a neighborhood a “good neighborhood”? Is it all about crime rate, or are there other factors one should consider when looking for a new home? Explain. Answer : Statistics show that high crime rate areas have a high likelihood of the children brought up in the area being influenced into the crimes by their peer hence the bringing up of kids is difficult. Therefore, due to high crime rates in such areas, the area’s life span of those from these areas is low compared to those from low crime rate areas.

An increase in crime rate lowers the quality of life in a certain area, therefore low desirability for new tenants. Crime statistics are among the accurate measures for quality of life since most tenants would like to live in a low crime area. A good neighborhood is one that is free from crime and residents have no fear of crime threats. However, crime statistics is not the only factor to consider, other factors include, climate, language, infrastructure, among others.

When considering an issue between two twin traits, mainly the environmental or the general factor and the specific factors using their variances. In this study the environmental factor for the reasons why people prefer low crime rate area than high is because the life expectancy is high, bringing up kids, business and other economic activities are easy to develop in such areas. Specific reasons come when we consider a reason only unique to some areas such as weather and physical conditions such as the terrain of an area influences the number of people living there.

1- Deigo : I believe that crime statistics are accurate to a certain point with crime because the statistics are crimes that are known to the police, plus it is beneficial when the person knows how its read. Most crime rate reports will come out of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) since the FBI collects data from mostly all police departments in the United States. For many people, a “good neighborhood” is an area where crime is relatively low and the community of that area upkeep and there is positive interaction. Crime shouldn’t be the only factor into moving into a new home, most people would look at schools in the area, any shopping plazas that can be beneficial for them to live. The other big thing is looking at the stats itself of crime rates, more specially rates, since most rates has a number but it is comparative to the specific population per 100,000 usually. To use UCR, for example, Fullerton in 2019 had 373 violent crime occur with a population of 140,000 that is a .26% per 140,000 people (UCR, 2019). Palm springs has a population 48,846 and had 267 violent crime, and there rate is .54% per 48,846. People would see that and view Palm Springs with a higher crime rate, but in reality it is just how you read the stats. write a reply here….

2-Mariah: I believe that other factors should be considered when buying a home besides crime rates, there has to be some give and take. Obviously no one wants to live next to a sex offender or a drug dealer, but not everyone has an option to choose. According to the article by ABC News, Buyer Beware: Was your Home Once a Crime Scene? There was a couple in Minnesota that bought a new house and was told after by a neighbor that the previous owner was shot and killed. It seems that you should also trust your real-estate company as well to lead you in the right direction. Just because you live in a “safe neighborhood” does not mean that your neighbors are going to be the best people around, they could be really stubborn, rude and even racist. A “good” neighborhood also depends on the kind of people you are surrounded by. Do your neighbors look out for one another? There was a fire to my neighbor’s house when they were not home, had we not smelt the smoke and called for help they could have lost more than just their kitchen. I was recently searching for apartments to move into in Fullerton and searching alone on yelp about the apartments history gave a lot of background, some post for properties even showed peoples cars getting broken into. That is an automatic red flag because there is not much anyone can do about your car getting broken into, that’s solely your responsibility. Those who work low income jobs and barley make ends meet usually do not have a choice on where to live and more likely to live in an area that is not the safest or next to the nighest people. Write a reply here…

3- Adrian : I personally believe that crime statistics can give some people a certain peace of mind, but at the same time I believe it depends on what part of the city you live in. For example the City of Whittier, which is the current area I live in, has a lot of great neighborhoods. Many people walk around my neighborhood during the evening with no problems, but I know there are some parts of Whittier where maybe walking by yourself might not be the safest idea, especially at night. I think some websites give off some negative statistics about a neighborhood when it’s not the case, but it can also can give a false sense of security. A good neighborhood is where neighbors look out for each other and honesty about activities that go on in the neighborhood are made aware. Getting to know your neighbors is an important key to making a neighborhood into a great neighborhood. Crime rate should be a factor most people should consider, but also the data being used to describe the neighborhood as a whole must be part of the decision factor. In the article I found By The New York Times says that the data on crimes rates depends “on what data is being looked at — and who is doing the looking”. In the article they use Chicago neighborhoods. Richard A. Berk, a professor of statistics and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania said, “Certainly, people around the country should not be worried. People in Chicago shouldn’t be worried. But people in certain neighborhoods might be.” I believe people should consider this type of thinking method when moving or purchasing a home. Maybe asking the current neighbors around the home you are interested in on activities that have occurred in the past would give the new tenant to be a better feel for the area. Write a reply here….

4- Kathryn : Crime rates are not the only factor that one should consider when looking for a new home. An article from National Geographic says that “neighborhoods tend to have their own identity, or “feel” based on people who live there and the places nearby”. When answering the first question, I feel that crime statistics are only a good measuring rod for one’s quality of life to a certain degree as there are people who have lived in neighborhoods with high crime rates for their entire lives, but they are happy and comfortable there because they are familiar with the people and the “feel” of that neighborhood. There are many factors we should consider when looking for a new home in a “good neighborhood” such as crime statistics, the school district, rates of homeownership, and the proximity to grocery stores, parks, freeways, post offices, along with keeping an eye out for indicators of environmental racism. According to an article from the World Economic Forum, environmental racism is “a form of systemic racism whereby communities of color are disproportionately burdened with health hazards through policies and practices that force them to live in proximity to sources of toxic waste such as sewage works, mines, landfills, etc.” Environmental racism is an example of a factor other than crime rates that we should consider when looking for a new home. Write a reply here …