More robberies in Argentina than anywhere else in the Americas

[earlyretirement]

I wish I could say I was surprised but this article doesn't surprise me at all. I still laugh at people that try to portray Buenos Aires as "safe as it is".

 

[nicoenarg]

Because they are illustrative of high-crime cities in the U.S. If you don't like those, how about murder stats for Chicago (15.2), Miami (15.4), New York (6.2... rapes 12.4), Los Angeles 7.6... rapes 24), New Orleans 49.1)?

These are FBI stats from 2010, but the situation has deteriorated with the recession in many places.

Why should we focus only on the cities that are illustrative of high-crime in the US? Why not cities that have the same characteristics in terms of population numbers, education, rate of poverty, etc. etc?

 

[nicoenarg]

Because they are illustrative of high-crime cities in the U.S. If you don't like those, how about murder stats for Chicago (15.2), Miami (15.4), New York (6.2... rapes 12.4), Los Angeles 7.6... rapes 24), New Orleans 49.1)?

These are FBI stats from 2010, but the situation has deteriorated with the recession in many places.

Oh and its not about me liking this or that, I am simply asking. Don't like to be questioned? What kind of a journalist are you?

 

[nicoenarg]

Sigh.. did you notice the "Y vos" and after I wrote the first comment? Or my comment afterwards pointing out that I don't particularly care about the murder rate in the US and the only reason I mentioned it was people always bring up the US?

Defensive? Not really. Baffled by people's immediate deflection when discussing crime here.

I think people who hang on to the "y vos" principle are so blinded by everything that they didn't catch that in your original post. And now they are out in droves, seemingly foaming at the mouth.

 

[sylvie]

Why is it impossible to have a debate about something on its merits, without the emotion? I guess I missed whatever you meant by the emoticon... sorry that I got involved.

 

[shoush]

ya, BA definitely isn't safe, and I do think that it is becoming more and more dangerous everyday. its definitely sad!
but there are other places i feel are more dangerous, and the only reason I'm comparing on this certain forum because of the article that was attached!

I wish I could say I was surprised but this article doesn't surprise me at all. I still laugh at people that try to portray Buenos Aires as "safe as it is".

 

[sylvie]

In answer to your question, Nico, I was a reporter and editor for 25+ years, covering everything from politics to business to crime to science. Now I am working on books. I was not being sarcastic in my reply to you.

OK, now I'll remove myself from this discussion.

 

[pauper]

Argentina Robberies /100,000 and ranking in the Americas.

Year, Rate, Rank
2000, 977, 1
2001,1033, 1
2002,1253, 1
2003,1146, 1
2004, 926, 1
2005, 917, 1
2006, 905, 1
2007, 858, 2
2008, 973, 1

They really should've had the headlines in 2007 when Argentina lost her number one ranking for the first time.

 

[nicoenarg]

It is fine to compare different countries here seeing that it is a thread about comparing Argentina with the rest of the Americas.

I don't find it hard to believe that there are more robberies here than anywhere else in the Americas. I am sure there are other countries that are higher on the list in terms of other crimes, like murders and rapes, etc.

Does that make Argentina safer than the rest of them? It depends how you look at crime. To some people just the thought of being robbed is scary enough that the rest of the crime statistics do not matter.

Sylvie all I wanted to know was why you picked those cities. If you were actually trying to have an honest review of crime statistics then only picking cities that have high crime rates in the US and comparing them to Buenos Aires is probably one of the most skewed ways I have seen when it comes to comparing crime.

To have an honest discussion, pick cities that actually compare, like those with similar population numbers, education levels, etc.

When it comes to crime numbers I generally discount them right away, especially in Argentina, since most of the crimes here are not even reported. So the only thing interesting that I find in this study is that crime rate could be many times higher than what the study says and that is pretty darn high.

 

[Johnny]

I'm often confused as to what this discussion/debate/argument is trying to accomplish. Given that pretty much everyone acknowledges that crime is an issue in BsAs, as it is in most heavily populated cities throughout the Americas, what's the rationale for the "popularity" of the debate. It seems everyone that gets involved has some sort of agenda. How important is it to "prove" that Buenos Aires is more "dangerous", or less so, than other cities, when it is clear that so many of the cities in question have significant levels of crime ?

I get the impression that some posters who live in Buenos Aires don't feel that they are being taken seriously when they complain about crime here. That offends them, and then we have this inane spiral of competing studies, statistics, anecdotes ad nauseum. All of which will end up proving nothing and convincing no one.