To give another perspective, I live in a small city where there is a LOT of poverty but virtually no murder...maybe one per year, and that's usually a man killing his wife or perhaps another personal grudge. I have zero worries about being murdered at random anywhere around here (and we go to "bad" parts of the city all the time...some would say we live in one).

Actually, I don't think random murders for being in the wrong place at the wrong time are common anywhere in the US. You could get mugged, though, for sure. I understand not wanting to go to some areas, but I guess my point is, there's plenty of poor children living in, uh, non-murdery places.