Bad neighborhoods are underrated. Think about it for a minute. People live there 365 days a year, year in, year out. In the worst neighborhoods, 1/100 odds of being any of raped, mugged, robbed or assaulted in any given year is considered extremely high.
When I split from the Program and when I split from home beforehand (which was much like the program to begin with), I hitchhiked all over the country. Most of that was just a lot of riding shotgun with truck drivers and taking in the countryside.
But there were a few occasions when I got the "put out or get out" ultimatum in a "bad" neighborhood. (Detroiter truck stop, where I saw my very first heroin addict ever; some slum in NYC; another one in Newark, NJ)
I got out. I was frightened. I walked or hitched back to a highway and got a ride out of there without incident. It was no more frightening than the 2 hour layover in NYC train/bus station that same year.
The only time I was ever actually assaulted was St. Paddy's Day, `82 (I think) in Ft. Lauderdale, not a full mile from my home, which was never considered a "bad neighborhood" at all. And that was date rape. I drank some half dozen glasses of something green, sweet and highly intoxicating at a local bar. Next thing ya' know, I'm waking up in some dingy little appartment with the mother of all hangovers and vague and unpleasant memories of the night before. No pregnancy, no diseases as a result. Just a bit wiser for the experience.