ugcllg: While I agree that JHU is and will be one of the top universities in the World, I think you are putting your head in the sand if you think there will be no effect. The aftermath of the recent events were bad enough, but now with the rising violence due to whatever (some argue it is police backing off for lack of support), with the prospect of a horrible trial of 6 police officers and the inevitable aftermath–including a probable change of venue and aquittal due to prosecutorial overreach–Baltimore is in for many months of turmoil. This is bound to have some effect on some prospective students thinking about JHU. My own guess is that it will not be a drastic effect, but it will be a noticable negative effect, however that’s defined.
As for the crime statistics, all the cities you cite are worse than anyone would wish, but a reasonable person would have to consider that the populations of Chicago and NY are 4.5 and 14 x greater than Baltimore before declaring that the crime is “worse” in these cities right now.