And he doesn't believe that crime has anything to do with poverty, yet look at these stats comparing the two towns he uses. Ignore race and control for poverty and you have a pretty decent explanation of the problem.

Of course there are other differences as well, like the median age in the town or the numbers of people who speak only English or the numbers of people who are in agriculture. The commute time for those who do work differs as well.

Median age in Amherst - 39.6 Median age in Gary - 33.6

In Amherst, 75% of the housing is owner-occupied. In Gary, 55.8% of the housing is owner-occupied.

In Amherst, 80.4% of the persons over 25 have a highschool diploma or higher, 24.4% have a bachelor's degree or higher. In Gary, 72.7% of the persons over 25 have a highschool diploma or higher, 10.1% of persons over 25 have a bachelor's degree or higher.

In Amherst, 2.8% of families earned less than $10,000 per year. Another 4.6% of families earned less than $20,000 per year In Gary, 15.8% of families earned less than $10,000 per year another 15.5% of families earned less than $20,000 per year

In Amherst, 27% of families earned over $100,000 per year. In Gary, 7.1% of families earned over $100,000 per year

The mean income deficit for families below the poverty line was $6496 for Amherst families The mean income deficit for families below the poverty line was $8152 for Gary families.

In Amherst, 2,851 families were 185% or more below the poverty line. In Gary, 10,864 families were 185% or more below the poverty line.

In Amherst, 3.7% of workers have a commuting time of 45 minutes or more. In Gary, 13.5% of workers have a commuting time of 45 minutes or more.

The population numbers are close, but:

Amherst has many employment opportunities

Gary has few large employers

Note the fact that only one company listed has over 5000 employees in Gary and only 5 employers have more than 1000 workers, in Amherst there are 8 different employers with over 5000 and many other employers with over 1000 jobs.

Is it any wonder that Gary has more crime? Not really.

-- Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits