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errorsource t1_itn8kzf wrote

Reply to comment by barry_abides in Quinsigamond Community College on lockdown currently due to police activity at Marland and Burncoat. by _life_is_a_joke_

The rankings in that article are per capita. Total violent offenses puts Worcester at #3, behind Boston and Springfield.

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icuworc t1_itng7fg wrote

Per capita is the only proper way to stat my friend.

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UnscSpartan23 t1_ito90j3 wrote

That was errorsource’s point

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errorsource t1_itof0dv wrote

More specifically, my point was that saying it’s number 10 even though it’s the second largest city is misleading. The size of the city isn’t relevant to per capita numbers.

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barry_abides t1_itohrvr wrote

Fair enough, I would say that qualitatively one would expect higher crime rates in larger cities, just by virtue of their density (and the somewhat greater concentration of poverty, drug dealing, etc.). Relative to crime rates in other major cities in MA, we aren't really an outlier. If you just want to look at how often we hear about crimes, then yes the absolute number comes into play, and we are on the high end because of population (still better than Springfield which has fewer people).

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