I read in an article that the crime rate in NO is 10 TIMES the national average. That will explain a lot of what is going on. For a city that lives off tourism they have certainly shot themselves in the foot. No pun intended.
It always made the top 10 list for violent crime. It has better PR, but a trip to New Orleans is like a trip to Detroit as far as crime goes. The relatively safe area in the French Quarter for tourists was roughly from the River to a block beyond Bourbon St, and from Canal to Jackson square. In daylight you could move a little farther down river on the river side of the Quarter. Across Canal, the River Center was the only area where I would walk after dark.