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> Overall crime rate is calculated by dividing the total number of reported crimes of any kind by the total population, then multiplying the result by 100,000 (

> Overall crime rate is calculated by dividing the total number of reported crimes of any kind by the total population, then multiplying the result by 100,000 (because crime rate is typically reported as X number of crimes per 100,000 people). There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

DocTomoe 5y ago
Not sure what you intend to say with it. How else would you create a comparable metric for the occurrence of crime by country?
- aahortwwy 5y ago
  > Not sure what you intend to say with it. Unreported crime is extremely common in the USA. I haven't lived in Sweden, but I've lived somewhere lower on that ranking. Day to day life here feels much, much safer than in the USA (where I lived for years). In this country the idea of not reporting a violent crime is unthinkable. Not so in the USA. If anything, it's the default. > How else would you create a comparable metric for the occurrence of crime by country? It may not be possible, but I'd probably try to look at how much crime actually happens rather than what finds its way into police records.
  - DocTomoe 5y ago
    And how would you know how much crime "actually happens" if you don't have an objectively quantifiable measurement? Your argument seems to boil down to "these numbers feel too low, I feel less safe in the US, so the numbers must be cooked, let's assume the situation is a lot worse." Also, if we take the idea of "general feeling of safety" into account ... do you really think you'd feel safer in Colombia, or Somalia, than the US? Many of the countries above the States in crime per capita have law enforcement systems that are even more corrupt, and even less likely to give good statistics - if the numbers of the US are cooked in that overview, chances are so are everyone elses.
    - aahortwwy 5y ago
      You said "Sweden has more crime than the US." and as evidence you linked a ranking of countries by reported crimes. Not all crimes are reported. So your "objectively quantifiable measurement" doesn't support your claim. Hence my statement: there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. > Your argument seems to boil down to... <strawman> Not at all. https://bra.se/bra-in-english/home/crime-and-statistics/international-comparisons.html https://bra.se/bra-in-english/home/crime-and-statistics/inte...

DocTomoe 5y ago

Not sure what you intend to say with it. How else would you create a comparable metric for the occurrence of crime by country?

aahortwwy 5y ago
> Not sure what you intend to say with it. Unreported crime is extremely common in the USA. I haven't lived in Sweden, but I've lived somewhere lower on that ranking. Day to day life here feels much, much safer than in the USA (where I lived for years). In this country the idea of not reporting a violent crime is unthinkable. Not so in the USA. If anything, it's the default. > How else would you create a comparable metric for the occurrence of crime by country? It may not be possible, but I'd probably try to look at how much crime actually happens rather than what finds its way into police records.
- DocTomoe 5y ago
  And how would you know how much crime "actually happens" if you don't have an objectively quantifiable measurement? Your argument seems to boil down to "these numbers feel too low, I feel less safe in the US, so the numbers must be cooked, let's assume the situation is a lot worse." Also, if we take the idea of "general feeling of safety" into account ... do you really think you'd feel safer in Colombia, or Somalia, than the US? Many of the countries above the States in crime per capita have law enforcement systems that are even more corrupt, and even less likely to give good statistics - if the numbers of the US are cooked in that overview, chances are so are everyone elses.
  - aahortwwy 5y ago
    You said "Sweden has more crime than the US." and as evidence you linked a ranking of countries by reported crimes. Not all crimes are reported. So your "objectively quantifiable measurement" doesn't support your claim. Hence my statement: there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. > Your argument seems to boil down to... <strawman> Not at all. https://bra.se/bra-in-english/home/crime-and-statistics/international-comparisons.html https://bra.se/bra-in-english/home/crime-and-statistics/inte...