Is the UK Violent Crime Rate Really 5 Times Higher Than US?

[Kythas]

We've all seen the statistic that the violent crime rate in the UK is five times higher than it is in the US. Is this true?

Here's an excellent article which talks about it, and how it's next to impossible to even compare the crime statistics in the US and UK due to different definitions of what a violent crime even is in the two countries.

http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/20 ... an-the-us/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[K.Mooneyham]

I love how they always say that "gun ownership in the US is falling". I know people who have never owned a firearm before, or haven't for a very long time, suddenly went out and bought a firearm during the panic we experienced in the recent past. The number of people willing to ADMIT that they own a firearm has fallen, IMHO. "Guns, what guns? I don't know what you are talking about". Also, we have some large, unknown quantity of illegal aliens in this nation; do they really think all those folks are unarmed? That is why stats are often so much bull; they are often based on answers from people who aren't willing to tell the truth, for whatever reason.

[bdickens]

96.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

[jimlongley]

96.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

And 45.27% of those not made up are wrong anyway.

[psijac]

The real question is has violent crime increased Compared to thier own historical rate since they passed their guns control laws

[RogueUSMC]

96.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

And 45.27% of those not made up are wrong anyway.

...and the balance of roughly 54.7243689%?

[VMI77]

As usual, no mention of the elephant in the room: black crime. Homicide statistics are very similar when gang black gang violence is separated. We have a very serious cultural problem and divide in this country.

[goose]

96.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

And 45.27% of those not made up are wrong anyway.

...and the balance of roughly 54.7243689%?

Completely accurate within 63.678% margin of error.

[mr surveyor]

96.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

And 45.27% of those not made up are wrong anyway.

...and the balance of roughly 54.7243689%?

Completely accurate within 63.678% margin of error.

that's less than one sigma

[CHLLady]

The whole of the UK can fit into Texas over 2 and a half times!! Most Brits have no concept of how large America really is.

They can claim all they want and Pierce Morgan can run his mouth about our guns. But my point will always fall back to this recent mass shooting in England while we were living there!

Their police let this guy go on his shooting rampage for HOURS because they were NOT armed and had to wait for special police to come from large cities to get this guy. They found him when he finally killed himself. This is their mass shooting by a man with a shot gun! NOT an AR 15, and not a handgun, which are banned! This guy drove around shooting innocent people for hours. It was horrific. So yes, it does happen even in the UK.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10229099" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I believe a lot of their crime is being committed by immigrants. I've been reading a lot about immigrants committing horrible crimes there in the UK and because they are EU citizens they are not shipped back. One guy recently raped several women, he was from Poland with a long violent past. Women in the UK have no way to defend themselves, except with martial arts, if they're lucky. If someone breaks into your house and you kill them, even if they are armed, you will go to jail.

I actually love England and met some wonderful lifelong friends. They are very fortunate that their way of life is the way it is. I could live there very happily, but I will never understand their politics and their need for such extreme political correctness. And it really broke my heart to find that Scots are even more liberal than the English. I often thought of them as being more like Texans, conservative and eager to take a stand. But when they let the Lockerbie bomber go, I lost a lot of respect for their parliament.

[Robert*PPS]

I don't believe I ever heard of that rampage in England.

[Dave2]

96.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

I heard it was 97.3%.

[CHLLady]

I don't believe I ever heard of that rampage in England.

Please do Google it. It was horrible.

What most articles will NOT tell you, is what I just did. They had NO weapons to go after this guy! Their police are mostly un-armed as you know. It took them hours to get their specialized officers from big cities organized and mobilized to get this guy. There was an article I read in their paper about an officer than came up on him, but had to let him get away because he had nothing to protect himself with, so he stopped following and helped a victim. Meanwhile, he drove down country lanes and through villages shooting at people randomly. I remember this farmer and his son out trimming hedges while standing on ladders (their hedges get really huge) and he drove by and blasted them both. He also shot an officer in the face point blank. The officer survived and is now blind and divorced. His first victim was his own brother. He shot and killed him over inheritance. He also killed his lawyer, if my memory serves. He then shot 10 or more people and then killed himself.

[papajohn1964]

My wife and I were in England last week. One of the headlines on the news was that a police office had tased a blind guy. Apparently a few cops had been watching him walk down the street with his cane and had somehow mistaken the cane for a samurai sword! They go through three days of training on how to use them but evidently not nearly enough time on common sense. Of course it's all the tasers fault. We saw several officers in London carrying pistols.

[wally775]

Here is one article.
It is from 2009 but most is still true today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... a-U-S.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;