So SXSW 2017 just started and a top headline?

“Musician mugged, shot walking home from show during SXSW”

Awesome.

What’s better? The article ends with this:

It’s not clear exactly how much crime is directly tied to SXSW, but a KXAN analysis of police records showed in March 2015, violent and property crime shot up nearly 50 percent downtown compared to the monthly average. Violent crime increased 20 percent in March 2016 from the same time the year before.

KXAN links to a slightly more in-depth article exploring the increase in crime:

That includes nearly 290 cases of theft downtown and 19 aggravated assaults.

Bottom line: SXSW comes to town, crime increases. But note, it’s crime generally localized to where SXSW events occur.

What can we learn from this?

Well, if we follow Farnam’s Law, it’s pretty simple to classify SXSW as a “stupid place” full of “stupid people” doing “stupid things”. And much of what happens goes on after 10 PM.

So regarding your own personal safety, take from that what you will.