According to the Morgan Quitno Press, St. Louis has always been top 5 most dangerous cities in the U.S. with year 2007 and 2010 ranking in number one. Crime occurs both in the city of St. Louis and in the metropolitan area, and there has been a steady increase in crime from the 1960s to the early 1990s measured by the index crime rate. Although crime rate has been decreasing since mid 2010s, the violent crime rate in the city and the metropolitan area remain above the national average explained by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR). There are many factors which can contribute to crime and where a potential crime may occur. Thus, it is interesting for us to explore the spatial pattern of violent crime cases in St. Louis City using these variables. Specifically, using multiple spatial analysis methods, the goal is to locate the most dangerous areas of the city. Some methods we will be using includes an overlay hot spot analysis of the violent crime cases, locations of people living below poverty line, and bar locations. In addition, we will use grouping analysis which can aid us and sort data into different groups/communities based on a set of quantitative variables. Lastly, we will explore the space-time variability of crimes and identify areas that experience constant crime.
Violent Crime in the City of St. Louis 