A mind-bending five other cities are considered more violent than Oakland, according to 2010 FBI crime data. A 24/7 Wall Street review of said data revealed that, to the shock of no one, violent crime rose in the largest and poorest cities in the U.S., "particularly those which have been in decline for some time." One of those cities in decline is right here in the Bay Area, which was billed the 6th most dangerous city in the U.S. Take a look:

Oakland's violent crime dropped about 5.5% between 2009 and 2010, from about 6,800 to 6,260. The city nevertheless has the tenth-highest rate of rape, the ninth-highest murder rate, and the second highest robbery rate in the country. In 2010, there were 7.12 robberies for every 1,000 Oakland residents. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mayor Jean Quan has attempted to combat break-ins and theft by creating programs to keep potential wrongdoers off the streets by starting late-night basketball programs. It it unclear if these policies have worked.

Late night sports? That sounds wildly ineffective. But will dribbling and swishing during the witching hours stop violent crime? Only time will tell. Other cities that might want to employ the awesome power of late-night basketball are: Stockton, CA (which came in at 10), Rockford, Ill (9), Baltimore (8), Little Rock, Ark. (7), Memphis, Tenn. (5), New Haven, Conn. (4), St. Louis (3), Detroit (2), and Flint, Mich. (1).

Better luck next year, cities in distress.

On a lighter note, violent crime in California overall plummeted to a 44-year low.

[via Yahoo Finance]