This collection of visualizations is derived from the NYC OpenData Arrest Data. It tracks NYPD arrests occurring within the city limits and encompasses a wide variety of alleged crime classifications. For this collection, I focused solely on violent crimes. To measure violent crimes, I collected data on crimes, within their respective years, that had descriptions including phrases such as "ASSAULT," "KIDNAPPING," "RAPE," etc. I aimed to identify trends in violent crimes throughout the years (2006-2024) while also pinpointing the safest and most dangerous neighborhoods based on the rate of violent crime recorded in each zip code. Using this trend analysis, we can make more educated decisions regarding investments and personal well-being as NYC residents.
I selected an interval of about six years to measure changes in instances of violent crime in each zip code. We can see that although the number of arrests fluctuates throughout the sampled years, there is no drastic change in the relative number of arrests in each zip code. Zip codes (and their neighbors) that were on the Top 5 Most Violent Crime Arrests list and the Top 5 Least Violent Crime Arrests list tended to remain on those lists.
I wanted to get a sense of the progress that has been made in violent crime arrests and understand the potential future trends. There was an obvious dip in 2020, which I assume was due to the COVID-19 lockdowns from March to July of that year. However, there has been an uptick for three consecutive years since then. Average violent crime arrests are already higher than they have ever been since records began. If this trend continues, most zip codes could see a significant increase in violent crime arrests in the near future.
The following interactive map displays every crime logged in 2024, including non-violent crime arrests. I thought it would provide a sense of scale for the number of arrests that occur in the city each year, relative to the number of violent crime arrests. This interactive map also provides additional markers and details of the arrest record that users might want to investigate for themselves, such as the sex, age group, and race of the perpetrator.
