ah, 'bad neighbourhoods'. i'd suggest, even if just for entertainment value, picking up a copy of 'bomb the suburbs' or 'no more prisons' by william upski. part of his deal was growing up as a rich white kid in chicago and deciding, later on in life, to just go and walk through the worst neighbourhoods in america at night. he comes to a lot of conclusions about how fear and distrust based on class and race and geography create neighbourhood stigmas and the urban/suburban divide, but the bottom line is: hundreds of walks through the worst neighbourhoods in the country and zero incidents.
not that i'm encouraging you to take a commute you're not comfortable with, mind you. comfort is important.