4 ms·
The U.S. has always had a ~10X higher crime rate than the western European countries, going back over a hundred years. The best explanation of why comes from a
by bokonist 16y ago
The U.S. has always had a ~10X higher crime rate than the western European countries, going back over a hundred years. The best explanation of why comes from a writer in 1920, Raymond Fosdick who spent years studying both the American and various European systems. Read his book online for free: http://books.google.com/books?id=NGBLAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=crime+in+america+and+the+police&source=bl&ots=zxG6FtL166&sig=Rlb7gr3KGJ_c1b23YupR9BfwSVs&hl=en&ei=1_2ETLnxCYO88gauhYSDAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=NGBLAAAAMAAJ&printsec=f... His arguments are backed up by almost everything else I've read on the matter, and they still remain as true today as they were in the 1910's.
- edderly 16y agoI can't claim to have read Fosdick, but I see an immediate problem in that demographics have changed through out Europe. Take for example London has a foreign population now of greater than 30%. At the same time there are areas in the north of England which remain overwhelmingly white which have deep social issues.
- bokonist 16y agoLondon is also much less safe than it was 100 years ago. Actually, all of England is much less safe. A good treatment of the subject is Peter Hitchen's A Brief History of Crime http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Crime-Peter-Hitchens/dp/1843541483 http://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Crime-Peter-Hitchens/dp/...
- hga 16y agoEngland may be something of a special case; as I understand it, from around 1,300 until sometime post-WWII it had a steadily declining crime rate. One or more things prior to the more recent wave or waves of immigration changed that. (I have my own thoughts on that, starting with e.g. the 1950's court decision(s) that effectively eliminated the right of self-defense, but that's for another discussion.)