Wisconsin is already known for making high-quality dairy goods. People sometimes call this state “America’s Dairyland,” and 14.2 million acres of it are used for farming. That’s still more than 60,000 farms in the state, even though each one is only 222 acres! Another well-known thing about the state is its love of beer, which is why it is home to the Miller Brewing Company.
WI is also well known because Milwaukee, its capital city, is the 12th most dangerous place in the country. As Forbes “awarded” in 2023, Milwaukee is the most dangerous city in Wisconsin. It also has the most people. We’ll look at Milwaukee’s past and see what makes it so dangerous.
The History of Milwaukee City
Milwaukee was the main home of many native American groups before it became an American city. They lived off of rivers and other bodies of water. Some of the first people to live in the area that would become Green Bay, Wisconsin, were the Menominee, the Potawatomi, and the Ojibwe.
Crime Index of Milwaukee City
It seems like places with lots of people are more likely to have high crime rates. However, Milwaukee has the highest rate of crime for its population, with 60 out of every 1,000 people being victims of violent crimes. If you live or visit this place, you only have a 1 in 17 chance of being a victim of a violent crime.
There are a lot of things that make Milwaukee dangerous and violent. There is a high chance of a violent crime happening because there are a lot of poor, families who don’t make much money, and guns are easy to get. With almost 100,000 gun licenses given out, guns are owned by almost half of the people in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Gun Owners, a group that fights for gun rights, is based in Milwaukee.
Police and the rest of the community working together have made the problem worse over the past few years. More restrictions on bail were an effort by local authorities to reduce violence, but experts don’t think this will work.
Violent Crimes in Milwaukee
Milwaukee has the third most deadly crime of any city in the country. Killing someone, assaulting someone very badly, and stealing are some of these dangerous crimes. As crime rates rose in both 2020 and 2021, the numbers went up a lot at the start of the COVID-19 plague. The Milwaukee Police Department made its crime maps and data public so that people in the area could learn more about the crimes happening around them.
Outline of the five worst crimes in Milwaukee in 2022:
- Theft: 8,745
- Motor vehicle theft: 8,099
- Aggravated assault: 7140
- Burglary: 2,332
- Robbery: 1,808
The cops caught people guilty of almost 29,000 crimes in 2022 alone. As of October 2022, the most recent data shows that over 20,000 crimes have already happened, which is close to the number of crimes that happened in the previous year.
High Poverty Rates in Milwaukee
Studies have shown over and over that some types of crime are linked to high rates of poverty in a community. Milwaukee pays close attention to this number. The Hunger Task Force says that 18.3% of people in the country live in poverty, and 26.4% of those people are children. Milwaukee has a big problem with hunger. Almost 10% of families don’t have enough food to keep their kids safe.
Even though agriculture has made a big difference in the country, more than 100,000 children, adults, and seniors still live below the poverty line. The Fresh Food Access Fund is a new fund that the City of Milwaukee set up in 2023 to help people get healthy food. People in the area are more likely to die of a chronic disease if they can’t get good food. Heart disease is the top cause of death in Milwaukee, even though it can be easily avoided. Being able to get healthy foods is a step in the right direction for the community.
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