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For starters, I certainly welcome more statistical sources than used here.
America a nation of about 300 million people has the highest rate of incarceration in the world or about 2.1 million. America ranks in the top 24 per capita and is #5 in total number, of the worlds nations in murders. It ranks #9 per capita and #1 total, in rape. It also leads in child molestation, incest, and neglect. It also ranks up at the top for crimes with guns and murders with guns, then again, we at least have the right to own them.
It makes one wonder how did we end up so violent, when we consider ourselves so enlightened and above much of the more brutal primitive characteristics that define many third world nations. Granted we aren't the worlds worst nation but we rank in the top 10 of many violent acts.
One of the more shocking aspects to me was violence against spouses and intimate relations. 3 woman a day are murdered by an intimate partner. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes every year. The number one cause of death for pregnant women is a boyfriend or husband.
Another surprising statistic I came across is that 85,000+ men a year report spousal abuse.
Too much TV, lack of quality parenting, too much violence in our entertainment, decline in education, or just simply social moral decay?
I think it is also fair to note that 84% of America calls itself Christian, and while all this violence is not committed in the name of religion, it is committed, excused and overlooked by it.
Part of the trouble is how these statistics are reported, what might constitute a crime in one country may go unreported in another or it might not get reported at all. Having said that if you look over some of the other figure on nationmaster you'll find where we rank below other nations like the UK and Australia. This is copy and paste from a older post of mine, the figure they have now might be different.
burglaries (per capita)
# 1 australia: 21.7454 per 1,000 people
# 2 dominica: 18.7892 per 1,000 people
# 3 denmark: 18.3299 per 1,000 people
# 4 estonia: 17.4576 per 1,000 people
# 5 finland: 16.7697 per 1,000 people
# 6 new zealand: 16.2763 per 1,000 people
# 7 united kingdom: 13.8321 per 1,000 people
# 8 poland: 9.46071 per 1,000 people
# 9 canada: 8.94425 per 1,000 people
# 10 south africa: 8.89764 per 1,000 people
# 17 united states: 7.09996 per 1,000 people
car thefts (per capita)
# 1 australia: 6.92354 per 1,000 people
# 2 denmark: 5.92839 per 1,000 people
# 3 united kingdom: 5.6054 per 1,000 people
# 4 new zealand: 5.45031 per 1,000 people
# 5 norway: 5.08143 per 1,000 people
# 6 france: 4.9713 per 1,000 people
# 7 canada: 4.88547 per 1,000 people
# 8 italy: 4.19755 per 1,000 people
# 9 united states: 3.8795 per 1,000 people
# 10 ireland: 3.69796 per 1,000 people
Better reporting in developed nations results in skewed statistics, I think. I would imagine that in more rural and less developed countries, crimes are unreported to a large degree. As a comparison, we see more tornadoes than in the past because there are more people to report them, but I'm not so sure I'd say the rate of occurrence is greater. Inconsistencies in data collection disallows accurate country-to-country crime comparisons.
I do agree, however, that America is one violent country despite our cherished sense of enlightenment (or is it arrogance?). One only has to look at our forms of entertainment to see that we glorify violence. Are we much different from Rome before the fall?
Part of the trouble is how these statistics are reported, what might constitute a crime in one country may go unreported in another or it might not get reported at all. Having said that if you look over some of the other figure on nationmaster you'll find where we rank below other nations like the UK and Australia. This is copy and paste from a older post of mine, the figure they have now might be different.
Yeah, there were a few things about how the statistics were collected that bugged and why I asked for more sources.
The one that surprised me was probably the incidents of rape. Makes one wonder whether or not this is due to our rather puritan views towards sexuality, or perhaps inability of self control. Don't really know, just surprised we were ranked so high.
Better reporting in developed nations results in skewed statistics, I think. I would imagine that in more rural and less developed countries, crimes are unreported to a large degree. As a comparison, we now record more tornadoes then in the past because there are more people to report them, but I'm not so sure I'd say the rate of occurrence is greater than in the past. Inconsistencies in data collection disallows accurate country-to-country crime comparisons.
I do agree, however, that America is one violent country despite our cherished sense of enlightenment (or is it arrogance?). One only has to look at our forms of entertainment to see that we glorify violence. Are we much different from Rome before the fall?
Yes, because we can't get a permit for public stoning or burnings at a stake, let alone feeding folks to the lions.
You make an excellent point about the skewing of statistics, and one I considered, but don't really have a choice when trying to present, as you pointed out, that we are not the peaceful society we attempt to portray.
The one that surprised me was probably the incidents of rape. Makes one wonder whether or not this is due to our rather puritan views towards sexuality, or perhaps inability of self control. Don't really know, just surprised we were ranked so high.
The customs and mores of a society have far less to do with the incidence of rape than they do with the willingness of victims to report it.
The one that surprised me was probably the incidents of rape. Makes one wonder whether or not this is due to our rather puritan views towards sexuality, or perhaps inability of self control. Don't really know, just surprised we were ranked so high.
Or it might be it's more likely to be reported by the victim in this country, in that case it's good statistic because those perpetrating the crime are paying for it.
From the last link, there is a disparity between actual incidents and those that are reported.
Quote:
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which includes crimes that were not reported to the police, 232,960 women in the U.S. were raped or sexually assaulted in 2006. That's more than 600 women every day.6 Other estimates, such as those generated by the FBI, are much lower because they rely on data from law enforcement agencies. A significant number of crimes are never even reported for reasons that include the victim's feeling that nothing can/will be done and the personal nature of the incident.7
Nationmasters crime statistics should not be used here. Reporting crimes is only done if you think it might do some good. And that seems to skew the statistics seriously.
Look at how high Denmark is in the rankings there, and how the US has six times more violent crime than Mexico there. Not useful for debate, theose statistics.
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