The annual crime report for England and Wales was released by the UK's Home Office today, and the numbers are very interesting. England and Wales (population 54,100,000) recorded a total of 648 murders and manslaughters in the yearlong period May 2008 through May 2009 - a drop of 17% from the previous year.
This means that England and Wales recorded a murder rate of 1.2 killings per 100,000 people per year. The rate in the US is currently 5.61 per 100,000 people, which means England and Wales' rate is 4.675 times lower.
Killings are lowest in 20 years
Link to full report - PDF file; 1.2MB
This is interesting for a few reasons - for one, it seems to indicate that we shouldn't simply expect violent crime to spike during bad economic times. Violence and the economy are not necessarily linked.
For another, it seems to demonstrate that targeted, active policing can directly affect murder rates - the city of Birmingham in England (pop. 1.01 million) went nine entire months without a single gangland killing or attempted killing, compared to several such killings in 2007.
Obviously, the US and England/Wales have big differences in culture and environment, but is it possible for American law enforcement or American society to draw any lessons from the British experience? The murder rate in England and Wales has actually been heading downwards since 2002/2003, while it has largely held steady in the US over that period of time.
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