Note - this is a Brit newspaper talking, which explains the "Guns easy to obtain" quote.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000141109560173&rtmo=aqBC5dWJ&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/6/29/wcrim129.html
Guns blow a hole in the argument
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
US newsman says Britain is riddled with crime
THERE was much indignation yesterday about the claim by CBS News. Believe it or not, Dan Rather is right.
There are many more burglaries and thefts in Britain than America and, according to the most recent figures comparing rates across the industrialised world, "contact" crime is higher here. This includes assaults, robberies and rapes.
The 1996 victimisation survey, conducted before big falls in American crime, showed the risk of contact crime as higher in England and Wales than anywhere else. Statistics can mask reality. Robberies in America are much more likely to be at gunpoint, which is one reason why the murder rate is much higher. The main reason for a much lower burglary rate in America is householders' propensity to shoot intruders. They do so without fear of being dragged before courts and jailed for life.
If American tourists coming to Britain are frightened of being murdered, a rare crime in any case, it is much less likely to happen in London than in any American city. But if they fear being assaulted, robbed or otherwise manhandled, it is more common here than in most of America, outside the city ghettoes that most law-abiding people avoid.
The most recent crime statistics from the Home Office show that in 1998 there were 963 offences of violence against the person for every 100,000 people in Britain. In America, according to Bureau of Justice figures for the same year, the rate was 566 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The trend in America is down while in Britain, as the latest crime figures will show next month, it is up. Violent crime has risen more than 10 per cent. Despite recent big falls in American murders, the rate remains the biggest difference between the two countries. Murder is the most likely cause of death in young men, who are 50 times more likely to be killed in Washington than in London, mainly because guns are so easy to obtain.
A criminal is six times more likely to be jailed in America. It has more than 1.8 million prisoners, at 645 per 100,000 population, second only to Russia. The rate in England and Wales is 120 per 100,000, the second highest in the European Union behind Portugal.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2000.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000141109560173&rtmo=aqBC5dWJ&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/6/29/wcrim129.html
Guns blow a hole in the argument
By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
US newsman says Britain is riddled with crime
THERE was much indignation yesterday about the claim by CBS News. Believe it or not, Dan Rather is right.
There are many more burglaries and thefts in Britain than America and, according to the most recent figures comparing rates across the industrialised world, "contact" crime is higher here. This includes assaults, robberies and rapes.
The 1996 victimisation survey, conducted before big falls in American crime, showed the risk of contact crime as higher in England and Wales than anywhere else. Statistics can mask reality. Robberies in America are much more likely to be at gunpoint, which is one reason why the murder rate is much higher. The main reason for a much lower burglary rate in America is householders' propensity to shoot intruders. They do so without fear of being dragged before courts and jailed for life.
If American tourists coming to Britain are frightened of being murdered, a rare crime in any case, it is much less likely to happen in London than in any American city. But if they fear being assaulted, robbed or otherwise manhandled, it is more common here than in most of America, outside the city ghettoes that most law-abiding people avoid.
The most recent crime statistics from the Home Office show that in 1998 there were 963 offences of violence against the person for every 100,000 people in Britain. In America, according to Bureau of Justice figures for the same year, the rate was 566 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The trend in America is down while in Britain, as the latest crime figures will show next month, it is up. Violent crime has risen more than 10 per cent. Despite recent big falls in American murders, the rate remains the biggest difference between the two countries. Murder is the most likely cause of death in young men, who are 50 times more likely to be killed in Washington than in London, mainly because guns are so easy to obtain.
A criminal is six times more likely to be jailed in America. It has more than 1.8 million prisoners, at 645 per 100,000 population, second only to Russia. The rate in England and Wales is 120 per 100,000, the second highest in the European Union behind Portugal.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2000.
