You may have read this "earth-shattering" headline in the Daily Mail (UK). I ignored it because my BS alarm was triggered. It is your typical MSM crappo, budget journalism
A couple of things. Firstly, it's nice (or not) to know that we are the gauge by which criminal standards are measured. It used to be the US, now it's us. Hey, number one again in something...
Secondly, unlike South Africa the police force in the UK is well-trained and can read and write and drive. Therefore they RECORD everything, much like they do in Australia for instance. In Australia, you threaten the guy in the call centre due to your telephone line being off and they send cops around to your house. No kidding, this actually happened to a SA friend of mine who had threatened to "skin" the call centre dude who was being snarky with him. The guy was in Sydney 1000kms away but s'truth.. within a hour two coppers arrived at my mate's doorstep to question him and ask him if he had "calmed down". Lol. It was recorded though. Heaven's really knows what our figures would be if accurate records were kept and besides, our records are 15 months outdated. Yes, you people in Britain, RUN for your lives! Or don't. I'll leave you with this statistic which for me is all that matters, the murder rate bearing in mind the UK has a 50% larger population:
***
There are also degrees of violence. While the UK ranks above South Africa for all violent crime, South Africans suffer more than 20,000 murders each year - compared with Britain's 921 in 2007.
Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it has been revealed.
Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.
The figures comes on the day new Home Secretary Alan Johnson makes his first major speech on crime, promising to be tough on loutish behaviour.
The Tories said Labour had presided over a decade of spiralling violence.
In the decade following the party's election in 1997, the number of recorded violent attacks soared by 77 per cent to 1.158million - or more than two every minute.
The figures, compiled from reports released by the European Commission and United Nations, also show:
* The UK has the second highest overall crime rate in the EU.
* It has a higher homicide rate than most of our western European neighbours, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
* The UK has the fifth highest robbery rate in the EU.
* It has the fourth highest burglary rate and the highest absolute number of burglaries in the EU, with double the number of offences than recorded in Germany and France.
But it is the naming of Britain as the most violent country in the EU that is most shocking. The analysis is based on the number of crimes per 100,000 residents.
In the UK, there are 2,034 offences per 100,000 people, way ahead of second-placed Austria with a rate of 1,677.
The U.S. has a violence rate of 466 crimes per 100,000 residents, Canada 935, Australia 92 and South Africa 1,609.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'This is a damning indictment of this government's comprehensive failure over more than a decade to tackle the deep rooted social problems in our society, and the knock on effect on crime and anti-social behaviour.
'We're now on our fourth Home Secretary this parliament, and all we are getting is a rehash of old initiatives that didn't work the first time round. More than ever Britain needs a change of direction.'
The figures, compiled by the Tories, are considered the most accurate and up-to-date available.
But criminologists say crime figures can be affected by many factors, including different criminal justice systems and differences in how crime is reported and measured.
In Britain, an affray is considered a violent crime, while in other countries it will only be logged if a person is physically injured.
There are also degrees of violence. While the UK ranks above South Africa for all violent crime, South Africans suffer more than 20,000 murders each year - compared with Britain's 921 in 2007.
Experts say there are a number of reasons why violence is soaring in the UK. These include Labour's decision to relax the licensing laws to allow round-the-clock opening, which has led to a rise in the number of serious assaults taking place in the early hours of the morning.
But Police Minister David Hanson said: 'These figures are misleading. Levels of police recorded crime statistics from different countries are simply not comparable since they are affected by many factors, for example the recording of violent crime in other countries may not include behaviour that we would categorise as violent crime.
'Violent crime in England and Wales has fallen by almost a half a peak in 1995 but we are not complacent and know there is still work to do. That is why last year we published 'Saving lives. Reducing harm. Protecting the public. An Action Plan for Tackling Violence 2008-11'.'The timing of the Europe-wide violence figures is a blow for Mr Johnson, who will today seek to reassert Labour's law and order credentials.
In his first major speech on crime since becoming Home Secretary, Mr Johnson is expected to promise a concerted crack down on antisocial behaviour.
He wants to set up a website to allow the public to see what is taking place in their neighbourhood, such as the number of louts who have been served with Asbos.
Mr Johnson is also known to support early intervention to stop children going off the rails.
12 Opinion(s):
Who writes these bullshit comparative crime reports? The Homecoming Revolution?
Yippee, does this mean I can go back to SA now? What a load of tripe!
So the crime is bigger in Austria than in South Africa according to this schedule!
Delusional BS !
This is a spurious article by the Dail Mail. It is so much crap that refuting it is barely worth it, but here goes:
1) Hardly news at all! Almost exactly the same article made an appearance in the media in June 2001, see here: http://browse.guardian.co.uk/search?search=crime+uk&sitesearch-radio=guardian&go-guardian=Search
So no big deal, the inner cities are crime infested, so what? Compare apples with apples, not paw-paws. The bar for the UK description of "violent crime" is way lower than SA.
2) Murders per capita are still way ahead in SA, so where does murder come from, father x-mas? No violent crime, so why is the UK murder rate vastly lower than SA?
3) The UK stats are bang up to date, no subterfuge and obfuscating by the government as the ANC is doing.
4) Crime is limited to the immigrant infested inner cities. In the outlying areas, crime is NON--EXISTANT - I live in a village 80 miles from london, zero crime. I leave my home door open the whole day in summer, no fence. I leave my car window open when I pop into the shops. My kid leaves her bicycle lying on the side of the street for hours when playing with friends. People put things "for sale" on their driveway with a sign asking the price and a polite request to put the money in the letterbox. Zero crime!
6) Stop comparing SA to London. London is the capital city of the UK, it is not, I repeat NOT the UK. There is more to the UK than London. London sucks, it's a shithole filled with immigrante shitskin.
By the way, Vince R, it sounds to me that you are also an immigrant in the UK. Perhaps you need reminding, with the comment you ended with!
Anon, I do not live in London. Read my comment properly.
Vince R: Anon1 didn't say you live in LONDON, he/she merely pointed out that your one of the those 'immigrante shitskin.' and for starters
spell Immigrant right and then proceed to read that persons comment PROPERLY...
You complain in SA and then you complain being in the UK saying London is a shithole... GEEZ
@Vince R. It seems you have the illiterates of the world to contend with. Good luck, I couldn't be bothered.
Aisha Mo - Please get a life, I used the word immigrante with the inflection on the e, capish?
Please do not underestimate my intelligence. Earlier I said "I live in a village 80 miles from london" Then in my last paragraph I described London as filled with immigrante shitskin. So clearly, I am not one of them.
And for the record I luv being in the UK, it is much larger than London. Let me repeat, London is a CITY in the UK. The UK is BIGGER than London, get it? London is a crap place to live because of crime and immigrant infestation. I would not live in London if you paid me.
Let's not get into trying to explain the many different countries that make up the UK.
EX ZA nian?? (ImmigrantE?) Stop talking like your no immigrant! Be it in London or otherwise... stop complaining about parts of UK being a shithole, there are many shitholes in SA and reasons as to why you must have 'shot' out of there! Are you not an immigrant then? Just reiterating the point Anon made, that's all, no need to get all worked up dude!
@Aisha Mo. What's your point?
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