rb, when I think of Essex, I think of
http://www.woodmans.com/ ...I've only been there once, but the food was memorable.
I took a look, on your map, at assaults, just from May 1, 2008 until June 15. The ring extended outward a bit, from the murder incidents area.
The "tight ring" is also adjacent, on both sides, to I-495, the beltway around DC.
I think you would also find that the county's population is concentrated where the crime is, and there is this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Su4...um=1&ct=result
The one large new mall in the county, opened in 2001, was not built in the more centrally located Mitchelville, even though median income is $7000 higher there, but in the northeast corner of the county, in Bowie, population 65 percent caucasian, almost the opposite population average in the rest of the county.
The Prince George's areas bordering DC are probably cursed by their proximity to DC, but that is where the beltway...the major thoroughfare is located.
rb and uber, what go me started on this series of posts was willravel's mention of the very low murder rate in San Jose, and when I checked it out, I saw that San Jose had a tiny African American population. I already knew that Prince George's and Dekalb were wealthy, African American, and experienced surprisingly high murder rates.....
The stats of Houston indicate that the city is 1/4 African American, probably has a large population of undocumented Mexicans, and an outsized violent crime rate....