Well, having lived in both the US and the Netherlands, and with both children
studying in the UK, this is of obvious interest to me.
Rankings are one thing, but you also need to look at numbers.
Murders:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
So: US at 4.8 per 100000, UK at 1.2, Netherlands at 1.1. So you are between
four and five times as likely to be murdered in the US than in the two other
countries mentioned. Of course, those numbers pale in comparison with
Honduras's 91.6 and Mexico's 22.7, just to pick two other countries that have
been named.
Other violent crime is more difficult to compare, since countries have
different standards:
http://azdailysun.com/news/opinion/mailbag/u-s-still-leads-in-violent-crime/article_cd6b4dde-ff38-5de1-af8a-bdae6fd2561c.html
I suspect the same is true of non-violent property crimes. Think of all those
bike thefts in Amsterdam and other big Dutch cities. This is why everyone there
has an old clunker, worth no more than €50, so that if it gets stolen when you
are out at night drinking, the loss is not much more than the cost of a taxi
ride home.
Cheers,
Nathan
Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
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YNWA
On Apr 8, 2013, at 4:04 PM, Bob Benson wrote:
> It is interesting to hear folks' perspective about "safe" in places like
> Gary.
>
>
>
> I work very often in Mexico City and Monterrey, and my friends and family
> always ask "do I feel safe" and "isn't that dangerous?" They're amazed
> that I actually go there happily (it is, after all, work.)
>
> My response is always, well, there are places in the USA (and my own city)
> that I won't go either, and that's certainly true in Mexico as well. Being
> careful is important.
>
> And then I say: on a per-capita basis, the murder rate in Mexico City is
> one-fourth of the murder rate in Washington DC.
>
>
>
> And then I report on an Economist article I read some time ago ... I think
> I have it right (old fart memory) . ranking three countries in terms of
> crime rates.
>
>
>
> Rate per capita of murder: USA, UK, Netherlands
>
> Rate per capita of violent crimes other than murder: UK, Netherlands,
> USA
>
> Rate per capita of non-violent property crimes: Netherlands, UK, USA.
>
>
>
> What brought this home to me is the Netherlands. I go to Tilburg (mostly)
> and Eindhoven routinely, and am always cautioned by the folks there to be
> very careful where I walk.
>
>
>
> So the bottom line is that being careful is good, pretty much everywhere.
>
>
>
> Bob
>
>
>
>
>
> --
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