US a rough place? Not half as bad as the UK

This appeared in Sunday's Times of London:

People in England are more than twice as likely to be mugged as their American counterparts, according to an official study. Research by the US Department of Justice shows that while America has managed to cut the most serious crimes of violence, the rate in England and Wales has risen sharply.

The study, based on police data and surveys of thousands of victims, will embarrass the government as it comes after a damaging row over sentencing policies.

It shows that robbery rates have soared so that mugging is now 2.3 times more prevalent in England than in America. Assault is also twice as common here. . .

Both England and America have managed to bring down rates of assault, burglary and vehicle theft, although people in England are still twice as likely to have their cars stolen and are 60% more likely to be burgled.

In some respects the US is still a more dangerous place, but if the trends of the past few decades continue, Britain may catch up before too much longer.

Americans are now just four times more likely to be murdered than people in England, compared with nine times in the early 1980s. Rape is twice as likely there, compared with 17 times in 1981.

One wonders at what point Britons will rebel; so far there seems to be little organized outcry over the breakdown in public safety, but an issue like this has the potential to sneak up on the political establishment and set it on its ear. Just ask David Dinkins. So what to do? It seems that the US model is being looked at, and in particular, New York under Dinkins' successor, Rudolph Giuliani.

Latest figures show robbers served an average of 18 months longer in prison in the US than in Britain. American burglars and car thieves were jailed for twice as long.

Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, said the lesson from America was clear: prison works. “My suggestion to David Blunkett is build more prisons. My advice to (Lord Chief Justice) Woolf is to start sending out the message that the courts will not accept that it’s normal to be mugged in the street or to be burgled.”

Posted by David on January 22, 2003 2:34 PM