How do you feel about crime in your part of the world?

[Paul]

I've mentioned in another thread that England is sadly crime-infested. What? you may say...the green and pleasant land of England with its beautiful rolling hills. Well, yes, much of England truly is beautiful but amongst the beauty there's trouble. Just one look at section 2 of the (most recent as far as I know) Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 (you need the "Sorted by variable" pdf file to see what I mean) which shows that out of the 62 countries surveyed, England and Wales is the 4th highest in crimes per 100,000 inhabitants (the rate is 15% higher than the most recent comparative figures for the USA). I think its very sad that what could be a lovely country is spoiled by such problems.

[sea-plunder]

yea england is full of crime but i reckon we are lucky guns are banned because imagine the ammount of gun crimes that would occur if you were allowed them for self-protection .. although it would put off burgulars

[fierce]

It might be just that I don't hang around dodgy places, but i haven't seen much crime here in australia. There are occasional horrible atrocities on the news, which is enough for me. But they tend to occur in areas where people are below the poverty line. I had never been a witness to crime until last weekend, when i was actually the victim (or almost) when i was standing by myself in a line at the taxi rank and two guys tried to grab my bag, and then hit me when i pulled away. Probably the scariest moment of my life, and the closest i've come so far to seeing a criminal act.

I think that our government (little Johnny Howard) is stupid. John Howard tends to just follow what the super power countries do. Guns were banned (which caused a big hoo-hah amongst the farming population - i think they're excepted though), and we seem to be constantly following george dubya on his ridiculous campaigns. There seems to be a culture here sort of as America's younger sibling, wanting to do whatever they do and be really grown up, even if we're not ready for it.

Anyway, i digress. I guess I felt really safe here until last weekend. But maybe it still hasn't affected me that much because I still go for walks at night by myself. I don't think we have reached the same level of violence here as USA or England.

[Alice I]

Not that I want to live in the "High Crime" country but did that survey say what kind of crime England is high on the list for?

Maybe it is an American misconception but I always thought that this country was one of the worst for violent crime.

I live in a city called Rochester and I think we were in the top five last year for murder.

[Won Wheezy]

I think Austria isn't too bad in the statistics, but the number of solved crimes has actually sunk dramatically due to lack of police. In Vienna there's a big problem with drug dealers and also theft and burglary, but the number of violent crimes isn't so high in comparison to other European countries, luckily.

[AngelicS_89]

I don't know what's our crime statistics,but I'll say what I know...Our prime minister has been murdered about year ago,and they still didn't catch the killer,in primary school 60%of kids age 11-15 are on drugs/alcohol,it's not a rare situation that I see a friend with a knife in school...Some of my friends have already been arrested couple of times and left with only a warning,our ex-president is in Hague(sp??,maybe Hag ) a lot of politicians are there,there is a rapeist(sp??) in every corner...Should I go on?After bombading 1999,many ppl gone crazy and killed themself and they're families,our country is in total mess so I'm not sure that those statistics are 100% sure...Actually,we're not on the list,I think.

[Alice I]

That sounds horrible Fluffy Bear!
Where do you hail from?

[choki]

It seems like I have been living in one of the most safest countries (Singapore).
With a small land area and population, I guess it is easier to control.
And with a strict law, I don't think anyone would be foolish enough to try anything stupid. You could be hanged if you are found smuggling drugs more than 15 grams Now, tell me, who dares...

[AngelicS_89]

That sounds horrible Fluffy Bear!
Where do you hail from?

From Serbia,or Serbia&Montenegro,or Yugoslavia,or any other names we changed as many times as our goverment...The last 10-15 years were horrible here and in some of the states nearby.And we used to be very active and advanced state.

[Phinea Rogue]

Yes, Serbia doesn't seem like a happy country nowadays. I've got a friend there, right from Beograd, and she's got really upset about what's happening again in Kosovo.

Anyway, my country (Slovakia, Central Europe), I haven't really thought about the crime here. When my friend from England was here, he said we're a lovely, peaceful country. That was when we left a bar at night and went home on foot. He said he wouldn't dare to do that in England (But I had never problems with crime in England, I was in London and everything was okay). What we have problems with is corruption. The government says that they're working on it, but there's no result yet. People play for doctors, for being accepted to university, for getting work, for anything... So I would say that corruption is our biggest problem.

[Marcus Baker]

Im glad to say that Brazil dosent have a bad crime problem in comparison with the rest of the world, but my city has the 2nd worst crime rate in brazil (After Rio de Janeiro). In Sao Paulo, it isnt save to walk on the streets. There is robberey everywhere. In South America, the problems with Crime is in Venuesuela, Colombia, Urugay and Chile. thank God the problem isnt in Brazil. What we do have as a problem is overpopulation, but Crime is pretty bad as well.

[Krum]

Hmmm...i live in a crime-infested armpit of a country and kind of freakishly happy.I like to dress myself in camo pants and army boots and i am scary enough to fend of almost every single mugger i see.And if the fact that there are a lot of muggers on the streets, scools are considered to be"drug malls"-the only place where you can get any type of weed you want .There are muggers even in front of the school waiting for people to enter .But i bought myself iron knuckles-you know, a weapon, that is legal to be sold to teenagers because it can't kill(achem )Sad, but i need to use it almost every day.Once, me and a friend were gonna get muggged and as she was a girl i told her to hideinside the school and tried to avoid a fight myself, but they attacked me.Good thing she's smart-she called all the boys in my class to help me.I was kinda in the middle of a losing fight(at least i hit one of then several times)when the others appeared in front of the school and the cowardly criminals ran away

[Alice I]

Krum,
If I lived where you live I'd never go outside.

[sea-plunder]

yea krum you must be really brave because i would be to scared to go around... i think its terrible some people have muggers and the such as a constant thing and i reckon governments should find a way to stamp it out because it is unacceptable..

[Krum]

what makes you think i'm not scared?only afool knows no fear, a hero never shows it(now who said that?)