Most Dangerous Cities: Comparing Rio de Janeiro to Oklahoma City
Just in the past 15 years, the murder rate in Rio de Janeiro has more than tripled. In 1994, over 8,000 murders were recorded and that's not the mention the rising non-violent crimes throughout the city and much of Brazil. Much of the violence seen in the favelas or shanty towns in Rio de Janeiro where much of the populace suffers from severe poverty problems. Because wealthy towns are located in close proximity to the favelas, kidnappings, rape, robbery and murder are common place. And when you span 8,000 murders out over 365 days, you get somewhere around 21 murders a day- making Rio de Janeiro one of the most dangerous places on earth to call home.
CityRating.com shows Oklahoma City as having 49 murders in 2003, a rate much lower than Rio De Janeiro but still much higher than the national average. In fact, Oklahoma ranks slightly higher than the national average when it comes to all types of crime. Many of these crimes are concentrated in the down-town area where buildings begin melting together in a close knit grid of shoddy homes, abandoned businesses and old factories. Just like Rio de Janeiro, poverty and crime seem to go hand and hand with Oklahoma City's less flattering locales.
On the national level, Tulsa ranks 57 in murder rates in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City ranked at 114 and Lawton is close behind at 123. When it comes to violent crimes not involving murder, Oklahoma City ranks up at number 98 on the national metropolitan list with some 532 violent crimes per 100,000 people.
Oklahoma City is no stranger to violent crime, even if the Murrah Bombing is excluded from the equation. But over the years law enforcement has expanded in Oklahoma City and surrounding suburbs. In my home town of Edmond, for instance, crime is almost non-existent. Edmond is a quickly growing suburb just north of OKC that has put enormous funding and effort into law enforcement. Nearly every time I drive there is someone getting pulled over, making criminal activity in the city virtually impossible. Oklahoma City has not expanded it's police force as drastically as Edmond, but much of that has to do with Edmond's predominantly wealthy residents that is home to a number of celebrities including biking professional Matt Hoffman and Olympic gold winner Shannon Miller.
Rio de Janeiro, however, does not get the same opportunities. Crime continues to grow in the city despite continual work to prevent it and some of the problem lies in the police themselves who've exhibited less than admirable ethics in the field of duty. Because the United States has a higher standard of living in which case many middle class people would be considered 'rich' in other countries, crime is much lower than other places across the world. Residents are able to better protect themselves with comfortable police forces, dependable home security systems or even simple watch dogs when those amenities wouldn't be available elsewhere. Still, Oklahoma City has a lot of growing to do in order to defeat crime on a state-wide level and compete with the nation's crime trends.
Crimes can always be prevented by a dedicated community coupled with a strong police force, but sometimes it takes a little more. When I get pulled over and receive a ticket, I pay the ticket and accept my punishment- but for some people who can't afford a home, let alone a ticket- deterring crime becomes mostly ineffective. And if a man is caught stealing food or a television to pay for rent, he may not mind spending time in jail with three meals a day and hundreds of comrades who think like he does. In my state, overcrowded prisons and poverty are connected in a dependent way. Instead of sending criminals to jail, maybe they could work their jail-time off in community service contracts or work programs. In this way it may be possible to assimilate criminals and the homeless into a more productive lifestyle.
Monetary allowance, health insurance and social traditions all play a part in why crime happens in the first place. If a person can afford to buy lunch- he or she would never consider stealing it. If a community intends to defeat crime, the root of the problem must be addressed- and often times that means helping the homeless, providing good jobs and giving compassion when it's needed the most instead of throwing the problem's result in jail, hoping the problem itself disappears.
Published by Robert Cole
I work, write and live in Oklahoma. I read and write poetry along with short fiction, essays, general interest and literary reviews. View profile
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25 Comments
Post a Commentno worries friend. you had good intentions and I wish you the best as well. take care
I am speechless. Good luck to you Robert and all your endeavors. you are also welcomed to delete my comments if you'd like, although I stand behind everything I've said, my comments were aimed at someone far more arrogant than you are.
Many people, both affluent and struggling, have told me that leaving Oklahoma is the best thing for a creative person like me, but it's just not that simple in my case. My family struggles as much as I do. I live in a 1 bedroom economy apartment I can hardly afford and it is very tough. I suppose the struggling, the difficulty and strain this puts on my life is in part responsible for my creative endeavors, but I do think if I were able to become successful it wouldn't hinder my ability to conjure up creative passion. Anyway, thank you for your comments and concerns. I want to escape. After awhile writing up dreamscapes and imagination lands just don't do the trick. I want the real thing. I do.
e not what I'm best at. I'd like to apologize to anyone who was offended by this article. I do hope to one day have the opportunity to leave oklahoma, to explore the mysterious world, the wonderful cultures, but i can't save up 5 dollars let alone a plane ticket to anywhere. I do congratulate you on your success, and your ability to travel often. I envy that and can only hope I am granted an opportunity to travel, write, and discover the world I've been unable to explore.
First I'd like to make it clear this article was written in 2007 when I was very young. I wrote this article in about 30 minutes and was paid 7 dollars for it. I did not put out much effort. That's my fault. Second I'd like to make it clear that I have nothing but respect for South America, and any other country for that matter. To be honest I harbor a bit of anti-American sentiment, and I certainly did not intend for this article to paint a bad face on Rio, Sao Paulo, or any other city in South America. Third I I'd like to say that my days of writing non-fiction pieces are pretty much over. I've instead focused on experimental poetry and short fiction, which I've had considerable success in. My work has been featured in Molly Gaudry's Willows Wept Review, the U.K's Erbacce Magazine, and I'm also a finalist out of 4,000 contestants world-wide in the Erbacce competition. I say this not to gloat, but to make it clear that articles like this ar
(part II) Okay, now back to my point. I travel A LOT. Without revealing who I am or what I do, I will say that I travel in the music business as part of a succesful group. I'm afforded the luxury of going to a lot of places on someone elses dime. I'm not saying this to brag, I'm saying that I have a job you should try to get. It doesn;t need to be in the music industry (I would actually advise against it), but someone who writes like you needs to GET OUT OF OKLAHOMA as soon as possible. You need to experience the world, truthfully, there is nothing wrong with Oklahoma, I have friends there ( I went to School in Denton for music) and many in DFW.... Whatever you do to earn money, save up, buy a plane ticket or get a job on cruise ship and see some of the world, I think it will change the attitude of your posts for the better.
Hi Robert, (part I) no I wish Mommy and Daddy would pay my mortgage, I would welcome it! You are good at grammer (I am not) and you seem to have a passion for writing, which is excellent. I also applaud you for sticking to your craft in order to make rent (did you really have to write 50 articles in 1 month??), it's quite noble. My only point is that if you are going to write articles like this, yo have to be prepared to take some criticism from opposing views (like mine). I am not a professional writer and I don't have a blog, so please don't have any fear of me, the repercussions from my response end with this post. I have no experience with "High Brow Yahoo" users, believe me, I don't want to be one of THEM!!! (I'm not), I created an account purely to respond to your article.
And have you written no articles Coldsweat? I had to write 50 in one month to make rent a few years ago. How about you? Did mommy or daddy pay your rent?
All this article attempted to do, and obviously failed to do, was bring up the correlation between poverty and crime: That crime is a product of necessity. I don't know much about Brazil, but I know plenty about poverty. I'd delete this piece of writing if I could, but alas, I have to put up with criticism from high brow Yahoo! people.
I don't have a college education. Get over it. I wrote this article years ago and people are still whining about it. I was probably drunk.