4 ms·

Controlled for equivalent population the murder rate of the US is about the same as that of Belgium.

jdietrich 9y ago
According to the UNODC, the United States has an intentional homicide rate of 4.88 per 100,000 people, versus 1.95 in Belgium. What exactly do you mean by "equivalent population"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...
- patrickg_zill 9y ago
  Belgium has a mainly white population, at least 92%. Much of the intentional homicide rate in the USA is African-American (often gang violence), plus drug trade MS13 and Mara 18 violence. Drop that out to match the demographics and the difference disappears. EDIT to add: the reason I think this is more valid, is that "dangerous gang areas" of the USA are well known and few people from outside, go there. When in Chicago, for instance, I simply never drive through the areas that have gun violence (and likely neither would any other HN reader). (My own personal view, is that there is/was basically a conspiracy against the African-American population in the USA which created a great deal of dysfunction, including a lot of gang violence and murder. )
  - tptacek 9y ago
    I live across the street from Austin in Chicago and drive through Lawndale to get to my office. People bike through there every day to get to work. Well-off people live in Woodlawn, walking distance from some of the roughest parts of the South Side. For that matter, Beverly is aggressively white and middle class and very close to rough parts of the South Side, and the side-street drive to the Loop from Beverly goes through all the roughest parts of the city. The reality is: if you don't live in the worst parts of Chicago, Chicago gun violence isn't going to impact you. We get to treat it as something external to us. :(
FeteCommuniste 9y ago
Where did you see that? According to the sources I looked at Belgium has a rate about 20% that of the US. The US's peers in murder rate seem to be Turkmenistan, Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Yemen: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Murder-rate-per-million-people#-amount http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...

According to the UNODC, the United States has an intentional homicide rate of 4.88 per 100,000 people, versus 1.95 in Belgium. What exactly do you mean by "equivalent population"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...

patrickg_zill 9y ago
Belgium has a mainly white population, at least 92%. Much of the intentional homicide rate in the USA is African-American (often gang violence), plus drug trade MS13 and Mara 18 violence. Drop that out to match the demographics and the difference disappears. EDIT to add: the reason I think this is more valid, is that "dangerous gang areas" of the USA are well known and few people from outside, go there. When in Chicago, for instance, I simply never drive through the areas that have gun violence (and likely neither would any other HN reader). (My own personal view, is that there is/was basically a conspiracy against the African-American population in the USA which created a great deal of dysfunction, including a lot of gang violence and murder. )
- tptacek 9y ago
  I live across the street from Austin in Chicago and drive through Lawndale to get to my office. People bike through there every day to get to work. Well-off people live in Woodlawn, walking distance from some of the roughest parts of the South Side. For that matter, Beverly is aggressively white and middle class and very close to rough parts of the South Side, and the side-street drive to the Loop from Beverly goes through all the roughest parts of the city. The reality is: if you don't live in the worst parts of Chicago, Chicago gun violence isn't going to impact you. We get to treat it as something external to us. :(

FeteCommuniste 9y ago

Where did you see that? According to the sources I looked at Belgium has a rate about 20% that of the US. The US's peers in murder rate seem to be Turkmenistan, Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Yemen: http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Murder-rate-per-million-people#-amount http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#By_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...