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Crime in Europe and the United States: dissecting the ‘reversal of misfortunes’

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Owen Densmore

Crime in Europe and the United States: dissecting the ‘reversal of misfortunes’

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From twitter:

David Skarbek ‏@DavidSkarbek 8h

Oh my, the violent crime rate in Europe is higher than the US (and growing). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0327.2011.00267.x/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false … HT: @danarchism

Oh my. I'm delighted to bow to the EU for having more violence than ourselves. They also have a lot more ISL members. Odd.

On the other hand, these stats are likely off, and besides, do they have Zozobra?

-- Owen

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Robert Holmes-3

Re: Crime in Europe and the United States: dissecting the ‘reversal of misfortunes’

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 7:23 PM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

Oh my. I'm delighted to bow to the EU for having more violence than ourselves. They also have a lot more ISL members. Odd.

On the other hand, these stats are likely off, and besides, do they have Zozobra?

-- Owen

Yes, the stats are off. Here's a piece on (1) the source of the meme and (2) the difficulty of international comparisons: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jun/24/blog-posting/social-media-post-says-uk-has-far-higher-violent-c/

The reason for the wonky stats is the definition of violent crime. In US criminal stats, violent crime is defined only as one of four specific offenses (murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault). In Europe, the definition is more inclusive. For example in UK, it includes "simple assaults, all robberies, and all sexual offenses". So, yes, EU stats are higher but it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.

If you look at homicide rates (easier to measure), the story is what you would expect: 5.0 reported/100k population in US, 1.1 reported/100 population in England & Wales (source: http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf)

Owen Densmore

Re: Crime in Europe and the United States: dissecting the ‘reversal of misfortunes’

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Great catch, thanks. Whew. I had faith we were tops in that category!

-- Owen

On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 5:35 PM, Robert Holmes <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 7:23 PM, Owen Densmore <[hidden email]> wrote:

Oh my. I'm delighted to bow to the EU for having more violence than ourselves. They also have a lot more ISL members. Odd.

On the other hand, these stats are likely off, and besides, do they have Zozobra?

-- Owen

Yes, the stats are off. Here's a piece on (1) the source of the meme and (2) the difficulty of international comparisons: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jun/24/blog-posting/social-media-post-says-uk-has-far-higher-violent-c/

The reason for the wonky stats is the definition of violent crime. In US criminal stats, violent crime is defined only as one of four specific offenses (murder, non-negligent manslaughter, rape, aggravated assault). In Europe, the definition is more inclusive. For example in UK, it includes "simple assaults, all robberies, and all sexual offenses". So, yes, EU stats are higher but it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.

If you look at homicide rates (easier to measure), the story is what you would expect: 5.0 reported/100k population in US, 1.1 reported/100 population in England & Wales (source: http://www.civitas.org.uk/crime/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf)

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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