Auguste Comte, little-known? Le Bon, maybe, but Comte? The best explanation I've seen for the lower homicide rate in the developed world is that it's mainly du

Auguste Comte, little-known? Le Bon, maybe, but Comte? The best explanation I've seen for the lower homicide rate in the developed world is that it's mainly due to a more powerful state with better policing, leading to fewer people dying in fight-homicides. Back in the more "tribal" days of Europe, people's safety depended on their belonging to some sort of group (extended family, today we might call them gangs), because usually the "police" was one guy per village or neighborhood who could do little to stop a cycle of vengeance except by trying to get the involved groups to negotiate. It was also fairly easy to escape punishment by getting away from the area were the murder had been committed. This meant that fights over minute matters could easily escalate into deaths, and that murder begat murder. (the classic fight-homicide escalates from an argument over which Pink Floyd album is the best; tempers flare up, the protagonists punch each other, the loser of the fistfight comes back with a handgun)