<p>We all know of New Haven's "this and that" safety problems, but it has also always been one of the background issues due to the constant reassurances of Yale's campus protective bubble, as well as the town's rapid improvement over the years.</p>
<p>Yet, I cannot help but find the following facts worrying:</p>
<p>2009 was the year with the lowest crime record, with 13 murders counted throughout the year. Now it is April 2010, and 2010's death toll is already at 12.</p>
<p>Additionally, the 12th death took place only today, the victim being a Yale Medical Fellow, the second Yale related person to be murdered during this school year, after Annie Le's tragic end this past September.</p>
<p>STOP THIS! You are clearly trying to influence admitted students.</p>
<p>This murder was PREMEDITATED by someone who does not work for Yale. They have CAUGHT that person already. And it has absolutely nothing to do with Yale or New Haven besides the fact that it is the deceased first year on the job at Yale and the murder was likely related to his previous job!!!</p>
<p>Yale students are COMPLETELY SAFE. The two PREMEDITATED, PLANNED murders this year are a STATISTICAL ODDITY, NOT A FUNCTION OF NEW HAVEN OR YALE NOT BEING SAFE!!!</p>
<p>aznjunior:The death toll is the New Haven death toll.</p>
<p>booyaksha:Honestly…I am just an international high school sophomore trying to grasp a good picture of various American universities before actually deciding I’m sure I want to have a go at the USA admission process. I would post the same thread whether it was today, 2nd May or 30th August. Just cause I’m trying to get feedback on some of my personal worries does not mean I’m trying to influence anyone. And yes, the murder was probably premeditated and “coincidental” but its the entire case of murders that is striking. Earlier this year, there were about 4 murders within a week.</p>
<p>And even if this thread does cause some admitted student to worry, I think everyone deserves to know what’s going on in a place he will be at for 4 years so he can then make a truly unbiased choice.</p>
<p>Smacking, as you will see if you ever go to New Haven, the areas of New Haven that are bad are far, far away from the Yale campus. What is relevant is how many “random” burglaries, murders, etc occur on campus or in the immediate vicinity. By that measure, Yale is doing very well.</p>
<p>Yes, thank you for your reassurance booyaksha! I was planning to commit today and this information had made me a little worried, despite feeling very safe when I visited…</p>
<p>I’d just like to point out that the New Haven murder statistics are not affected by this most recent case: the murder took place just outside Branford, CT in the HOME of the postdoc…</p>
<p>Essentially, I’d just like to say this: New Haven, in terms of crime, only poses a threat to students in terms of muggings (which affect a VERY small percentage of the student population).</p>
<p>As sad as this is, the YDN had this to say about the murder rate: “All were black men, most were ex-cons in their late 20s or older.” None of these murders involved students–rather, they were late-night murders in VERY different parts of town among a VERY different New Haven community than Yale’s.</p>
<p>Obviously the murder of the postdoc and of Annie Le are tragic, but they reflect the same amount of risk one takes on in living life anywhere. Yale/New Haven had nothing to do with this most recent murder, and I hope this does not influence future students’ decisions to attend. Believe me, Yale is quite safe, and if it is the place you want to study, you should not hesitate to press that button.</p>
<p>Check some statistics:
Among Yale and it’s peer institutions(HPSM), during the last year:
-There has been NO manslaughter in any of them.
-Burglaries On Campus:
+Yale: 51
+Harvard: 230
+MIT: 86
+Stanford:174
+Princeton: 58
-Motor vehicle theft
+Yale: 4
+Harvard: 3
+MIT: 3
+Stanford:35
+Princeton: 3</p>
<p>BTW, I lived in New Haven back when it *was *comparatively dangerous, and I never knew a single person to be a crime victim, on or off campus, the whole time I was there. Hysteria like the OP here (and sometimes in the MSM) is mainly intended just to attract attention.</p>
<p>New Haven is a wonderful place to live. There are bad areas but they are easily avoided. Just like any city. And this murder has very little to do with Yale or with New Haven.</p>
<p>Something is wrong with those statistics if they say no homicide. We know there have been homicides at both Harvard and Yale in the past year – Justin Crosby at Harvard, and Annie Le at Yale. Neither homicide had anything to do with either college not being safe, and neither victim was an undergraduate student, but they clearly happened on campus.</p>
<p>Stanford – there are LOTS of cars on campus. At Harvard, there’s no place to park. At Yale, there’s a place to park but it’s underground and two miles away. Stanford is ringed by parking lots. So of course there’s going to be more car-related crime there. Also, because Stanford looks so safe and suburban, I think there’s a tendency not to secure things, lock doors, etc., which leads to more burglary.</p>
<p>Statistics can be misleading when the numbers being compared are low–this most recent murder, as well as the murder of Annie Le, show that. They have nothing to do with street crime, or with the safety of undergraduate students on campus.</p>
<p>Statistics can be horribly misleading. Witness the “most crime-ridden college neighborhoods” list going around now, which is sorted by ZIP code, and divides reported property crimes by number of residents. And . . . what you get is a list of ZIP codes with lots of stores and few residents, so shoplifting reports divided by residents is astronomical. You could glance at the list, or one of the stories about it, and think that you had a 100% annual likelihood of being a crime victim at UC Santa Barbara. Umm, not really.</p>
<p>At Yale, an MD/PhD student was killed in a medical research building on campus; a lab tech has been charged with the murder, and just this week a post-doc medical researcher was shot outside his condo in Branford CT (i.e., a suburb 10-15 miles from Yale) by what appears to be a disgruntled former employee of a hospital in NYC where he had worked.</p>
<p>At Harvard, a college-age drug dealer (and Cambridge townie) was shot in the basement of one of the Harvard Houses, by some college-age kids from New York who were apparently ripping him off. The two perpetrators were back-home friends of two Harvard students, with whom they were staying, and whose ID they apparently borrowed to get into the House. The victim was also a friend (and supplier) of many Harvard students, having gone to high school with a number of them and living, going to community college, and plying his trade in the neighborhood.</p>