OT: JHU/Baltimore is a Dangerous Place

Submitted by jokenjin on

This is one of the most ridiculous stories I've read lately:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/15/samurai.sword.killing/index.html

I talked to my friend who is a JHU alum and he says that while using a sword to defend oneself is a new one, crime like this happens all the time for the students here. During his time there (which was 2003 - 2007) he said there were numerous robberies, rapes and one murder. That's intense. He says the The Wire is insanely accurate, which makes it all the more a great show, but still, it's pretty nuts.

Blazefire

September 16th, 2009 at 10:47 AM ^

The east coast sucks. Seriously.

The intruder had a long criminal history, and there are three witnesses confirming that there was a break in and the man acted in a threatening manner, and yet, police are determining whether the student will face charges.

Sorry, if a guy breaks into my house, I want the absolute right to give him high velocity lead poisoning.

This also seems interesting to me, because I was just reading how since the handgun ban has been in effect in England, violent crime and murder rates have gone way up, mostly with stabbings. They're talking about making it illegal to sell sharp pointed knives longer than 2" now.

Blazefire

September 16th, 2009 at 11:28 AM ^

We're not supposed to discuss politics on this board, so I'm not going to get into it. However, please feel free to search the Googles for "Violent Crime Statistics Great Britain" OR Australia, which instituted a similar handgun ban.

A note taken from a BBC story:

"Violent offences in England and Wales reached record levels in 2004-5 with police recording one million crimes - up 7% from the previous year. Police figures show 1,035,046 violent incidents against the person, excluding sexual offences and robberies. Police recorded just under 11,000 gun crimes, up 6%, and 73 people were killed with guns over a 12 month period - five more than the previous year. Homicide, threats to kill, serious wounding and other serious incidents were up 3%. "

HermosaBlue

September 16th, 2009 at 12:07 PM ^

I lived in London in 2006-2007 and there were public service ads in the tube stations imploring people not to carry knives as weapons. Knife crime was viewed as an epidemic problem, and lots of people feared "hoodies" (youth wearing hooded sweatshirts, so as to avoid being clearly caught on London's myriad street surveillance cameras) and stayed out of previously not-so-scary areas after dark.

Knife crime replaced gun crime when guns became less available. Not political, just true.

Blazefire

September 17th, 2009 at 12:34 PM ^

That is a 100% false statement.

It is a near universal truth that "stabbings" result in homicide. Seriously, if I take an 8" knife and plunge it into your chest, YOU ARE DEAD.

Only a small fraction of shootings result in deaths. Unless you are shot in the head or in the heart, you have a very good chance to survive the shooting, in part due to less overall blood loss.

STW P. Brabbs

September 17th, 2009 at 5:10 PM ^

Can I just randomly say things are univerally true too?

Like "If you get shot with a Desert Eagle to the chest YOU ARE DEAD. So knives mostly tickle. QED - it's univerally true."

Oh - and the stats you ripped from Wikipedia also show that most of the increase in gun crime in Britain is actually due to BB Guns and replicas. So you're obviously not interested at all in even objectively presenting the facts you painstakingly found on Wikipedia, and I officially don't have any more time for this shit.

dtdanUM

September 16th, 2009 at 10:52 AM ^

This has been front page stuff here in Baltimore for the last two days--and the kid with the sword is still in custody I believe. Based on what I've read in the Daily and annarbor.com lately this is not really different from what goes on on any college campus. The house had been broken into a few times, computers stolen etc., this kid happened to have a sword when he went to find out what was going on. If it were me in college, it would have been a baseball bat. None of this makes Baltimore or the Hopkins area particularly dangerous though. Like any city it has its good parts and bad parts--this was just a burglary gone wrong for the "victim".

MaizeNBlu628

September 16th, 2009 at 10:55 AM ^

Im originally from MD, but much closer to DC than Bmore, although I did go there a lot for Os and Ravens games, as well as visit JHU campus. The inner harbor area is gorgeous and awesome, the campus is up on a hill, but anything outside of that is just terrible. I remember one time I did some community service for a HS like 3 miles from JHU, went to a McDonalds for lunch, and two of the workers there literally got in a fist fight behind the counter. Plus, hasn't anyone seen the Wire?

dtdanUM

September 16th, 2009 at 11:32 AM ^

The reaction from people who come into Baltimore occasionally is that the Harbor is this beautiful, wonderful oasis in a city of shit. Not so much. The Harbor is fine. It is what it is, but it really isn't anything special--you can see and do all of it in about half a day. It is the other areas of the city that are more fun, with lots to do--Federal Hill, Fells Point, Canton, Hamden to name a few. Harbor East is a gorgeous new development and if you're just looking for nice neighborhoods but little tourism, there are tons of really nice houses in great locations. The problem with Baltimore is that it is very "block by block." You could be in a terrible area 3 miles from JHU and in a great area 3.1 miles from JHU. That's just how the city is. Baltimore is so much better than the Inner Harbor, and it is just sad to see that very few people realize that.

BaltimoreWolverines

September 16th, 2009 at 12:07 PM ^

Fucking a. Thank you. People act like The Wire is the only thing that goes on in Baltimore. Don't get me wrong, I love The Wire more than most, but I grew up in Baltimore city, and it is my favorite place in the world. If you want to write it off as a cesspool of sorts, then fine, that's your opinion. But there is so much more to the city than the Inner Harbor which is actually just an overpriced tourist attraction. Yes, we have crime and drugs, and probably more than most other cities. But there is a hard working class, and so many people making an honest living who are being thrown in the same breath as the drug dealers because Baltimore's perception is only based off of pop culture depictions.

phjhu89

September 16th, 2009 at 12:56 PM ^

Absolutely spot on. Grew up in New York, and went to Hopkins, so I thought my NYC street smarts would serve well in Baltimore. I couldn't have been more wrong. The transition between safe and unsafe is not as intuitive, because the streets of Baltimore (outside of downtown) tend to be pretty deserted at night. Some of the neighborhoods around Hopkins are safer than others. The neighborhood where this happened is actually pretty good - I used to live a block from there in college.