[isostatic]

> it's pretty safe too if London's latest murder spree hasn't convinced you yet

The London murder rate is projected to be 180 this year, about 2 per 100k

Rio's murder rate is 18 per 100k - about 10 times worse than London.

[mavdi]

That statistic in skewed because most of the murders happen in the favelas within drug gangs. City areas are ripe with petty crime but murder is perhaps as widely seen as London.

Plus... it's not infested with security cameras.

[dragonwriter]

> That statistic in skewed because most of the murders happen in the favelas within drug gangs

But that (with “favela” replaced with he appropriate local term for underclass neighborhoods) is true pretty much every city everywhere.

> City areas are ripe with petty crime but murder is perhaps as widely seen as London.

Yes, but “if you exclude our underclass neighborhoods, our murder rate is the same as City X including it's underclass neighborhoods” is not making the argument you seem to think it is.

[isostatic]

Some cities are dangerous in the posh neighbourhoods -- I wouldn't want to live in Johannesburg, where things like this [1] happen

Not something that happens in London, or New York, or St Louis or even Rio and Sao Paulo.

[1] http://www.eutimes.net/2012/07/south-african-family-dies-in-...

[isostatic]

On the other hand London's figures are skewed by gangs. If you remove the 15-25 year olds that hang out with gang members, the murder rate is far lower.