World Crime and Murder Trends

Murder Rates (per 1 million people)

1st Columbia 618

2nd South Africa 496

3rd Jamaica 324

5th Russia 202

24th United States 43

30th Finland 28

40th France 17

60th Japan 5

Crime Rates (per 1 million people)

1st Dominica 114,000

2nd New Zealand 106,000

3rd Finland 102,000

4th Denmark 93,000

5th Child 88,000

6th United Kingdom 86,000

8th United States 80,000

10th South Africa 77,000

31st Russia 21,000

37th Jamaica 14,000

59th India 1,000

Columbia is the world leader in murder rates, with 618 murders for every million people. It is significantly high than South Africa, which is second. Jamaica and Venezuela are the next two with Russia the highest European country with 202 murders for every million. The number of murders in the United States has fallen to 43 per million, but figures for Eastern Europe has generally risen.

In many cases the trends differ for crime rates in general. Dominica has the most recorded crime followed by New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Chile and the United Kingdom.

Although Columbia has the highest murder rate it is not in the top 60 of general crime rates. This is similar with South Africa and Jamaica. These countries have a high amount of drug related crime (although often not reported and therefore not recorded); something that can often lead to disputes and therefore murder. A large proportion of crime in these countries could be attributed to this.

Murder rates are significantly higher in Eastern Europe than Western Europe. Over the last twenty years there has been much political unrest in Eastern Europe, and this is something that can cause crime.

Some countries have high crime rates that would surprise many. Countries that traditionally have had low crime, such as Finland, Denmark and Japan now have higher crime.

Western Europe generally has a low murder rate but a much higher general crime rate. One of the reasons for this could be that a higher percentage of crime is reported. There are also more laws relating to 'lesser' offenses. Speeding and littering, for example, are not illegal in many other areas of the world and it is therefore easier to break the law. Research generally shows that areas of wealth have less crime, and this could be another factor. In some ways New Zealand is similar to this. They have a high crime rate, but low murder rate, with a large proportion of crimes being minor ones.

The United States murder rate has fallen significantly, but overall crime remains relatively high, much like Western Europe. Murder is still more common though, with the fact that guns are legal and easily obtainable likely to be a contributing factor. Violent crime has been reduced though, and this is partly due to greater effort being made by the authorities. New York is a good example of this, with crime rates, and especially violent crime having fallen by a large margin over the last ten to fifteen years.

Crime rates are extremely low in India and China. Some would argue that these areas have high morals and therefore lower crime. You could also argue though, that there are more severe punishments for crime, and therefore it is less worth the risk.

Andrew Marshall ©

Criminal Solicitors London

Statistics from http://www.nationmaster.com

Violent Crime Trends in the U.S.

The nature of violent crime is the loss of life, or the maiming and/or destruction of a life to such a degree that the victim seldom, if ever, recovers fully from the incident.

Another aspect of the nature of violent crime is, in this writer's view and experience within the system, the lack of and/or failure of, for whatever reasons, of rehabilitation. The thought process among those who deal with violent offenders particularly Correction Treatment Specialists is that most violent offenders cannot be, rehabilitated. That mind set has become an overwhelming "nature" of violent crime.

The extent of violent crime has crossed all boundaries of society to include social, biological, psychobiological, and environmental issues that run the gamete from education to poverty. As a result of the extensiveness of violent crime, the criminal justice system is hemorrhaging a plethora of theories to explain the whys and wherefores of violent crime.

Within the biological spectrum, the main issue is believed to be, genetically based criminal tendencies in that these tendencies may be passed on from one generation to the next. Additionally, it is believed, that within this theory "at least some human behavior is the result of biological propensities inherited from more primitive development stages in the evolutionary process". Frank Schmalleger, Criminal Justice Today, Chapter 3.

Social issues seems to be the most ardent factor affecting violent crime although, in this writer's opinion, social issues only fan the fires of biological and psychological factors. The most common social issues believed to affect violent crime are where a person lives in a community, i.e. the wrong side of the tracks, poor education or lack thereof, poor parenting or lack of parenting, minimal resources to enrich life, etc. Take these social issues and apply them to individuals with underdeveloped or absence of cognitive skills, bad role models, little or no accountability to authority for inappropriate behavior, minimal or no absolutes established as a compos for acceptable social behavior, and learned behavior within the family and home, and you have an atomic bomb named "violent crime" painted on it.

Unfortunately violent crime is no longer a definitive issue of the poor and uneducated but has extended to well known media personalities, i.e., OJ Simpson, Robert Blake, Mike Tyson, just to name a few.

Today's trend in violent crime according to an FBI report June 4, 2007, "crime is inching higher in the U.S." The nation's murder rate rose slightly last year but the number of robberies skyrocketed by 6 percent, preliminary FBI data released Monday show. The statistics were part of an overall 1.3 percent rise in violent crime across the country in 2006 - the second straight annual increase. However, car thefts, arsons and other property crimes dipped for the second straight year, the data show.

As of this writing, the United States ranks number 9 on the list of 65 for crime at 0.301318 per 1,000 people.

References:

Frank Schmalleger, Criminal Justice Today, An Introductory Text for the 21st Century. Frank Schmalleger is a Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

MSNBC, US News, Crime and Punishment http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19028258 accessed on 08/05/2007

NationMaster, Luke Metcalfe, Manager / Developer. Statistics come from international agencies, such as the U.S. Census Bureau and UNESCO http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_rap_percap-crime-rapes-per-capita Accessed on 08/-5/2007