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Crime in Washington, D.C.


Crime in Washington, D.C.

While Washington rivaled other U.S. cities for the Murder Capital of America title in the early 1980s-1990s, violent crime has since fallen dramatically. Certain neighborhoods in the less traveled parts of the city (especially near public housing projects) are the main contributors to D.C.'s high murder rate, but as a visitor to the city you are extremely unlikely to be victim of a homicide—the vast majority of homicide victims in the U.S. are acquainted with their murderer long before the crime, and there simply are not that many murders to begin with—robbery is a more travel-relevant problem. The trickiest aspect of staying safe in D.C. lies in the fact that the most dynamic neighborhoods, sporting great nightlife, dining, and diversity, are home to the majority of the city's muggings. Muggings are a problem in the north central neighborhoods of Shaw/U Street and Adams Morgan-Columbia Heights, in stark contrast to the popular belief that "gentrification" has somehow made the area safer. That's not to say that visitors should avoid these areas—on the contrary, it would be a shame to miss out on them—but that visitors should be vigilant. In particular, avoid walking at night on side streets—stick to the well-lit main commercial strips, travel in groups, and maintain a basic level of sobriety, and you won't run into trouble. Be extra vigilant in this area with your iPhones and iPods, as they are a very popular snatch-and-grab item around the Metro stations. You will often hear people warn away people from visiting the "northeast" and "southeast" sections of the city, but this well meaning advice is far too generalized to be of any real use. While some neighborhoods do indeed have severe problems with violent crime, particularly near city housing projects, most areas in the east of the city (particularly in the northeast) are simply quiet, peaceful residential neighborhoods—with a good deal less violent crime than gentrified neighborhoods in north central D.C. And there are a bunch of great places to visit with NE or SE addresses: Capitol Hill/Barracks Row, the National Shrine, the National Arboretum, H St NE, Takoma, the Nationals Stadium, etc. Lastly, the Metro is quite safe, and you should not shy away from using it at any time of the day.

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Washington, D.C. Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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