| 1 |
trailing wife |
Aris, I think Rantburg had a discussion on the subject of crime and punishment a while back. (One of you clever computer types can find the link for me). The problem had to be broken down into several parts before we could even begin discussing it properly:
1. Crimes are defined and reported differently in the States and in various parts of the EU, so direct comparison of statistics is very difficult. For example, until recently the local French police/gendarmes/whatever generally refused to record attacks against Jewish persons or property, especially not recording the attack as being antisemitic. Crimes committed in the French suburbs are not recorded at all, despite being among the most violent places in all of Europe. Rape also is defined differently in the different societies; and job discrimination considered criminal on this side of the pond is considered not only normal but prudent elsewhere (I had an American friend who'd gotten her JD law degree (magna cum laude) from a German university, and was told outright that she would not be offered more than half of what her male classmates with lower scores would get, because after all she would be quitting in no time to have babies, and not even to think about being offered a partnership. Over here such a statement could get the law firm shut down.)
2. In part because of long prison sentences, and in part because of the increase in the average age of the population in the U.S. reducing the number and percentage of problem-prone late teen-aged males, criminal activity has gone down across the country and across the range of criminal activities, except for cyber crime and extreme gang-related violence.
3. At the same time, in part because of the antisocial immigrant population in many of the EU nations, and in part because of very short sentences for convicted criminals, criminal activity has gone up for much of Europe (I read recently that now England has a higher per capita violent crime rate than the U.S). The problems that get Rantburgers so exercised about Britain, where the householder who defends himself against a burglar is likely to be imprisoned for violating the criminal's civil rights, is unfortunately symptomatic of social values across much of the continent.
So, before we continue this discussion, Aris, you may want to do a little research on the issues involved, so that the discussion can take place based on real numbers rather than delightfully but uselessly airy concepts. |
2005-02-15 6:02:41 PM |
65.27.196.146 |
| 2 |
trailing wife |
Aris, I think Rantburg had a discussion on the subject of crime and punishment a while back. (One of you clever computer types can find the link for me). The problem had to be broken down into several parts before we could even begin discussing it properly:
1. Crimes are defined and reported differently in the States and in various parts of the EU, so direct comparison of statistics is very difficult. For example, until recently the local French police/gendarmes/whatever generally refused to record attacks against Jewish persons or property, especially not recording the attack as being antisemitic. Crimes committed in the French suburbs are not recorded at all, despite being among the most violent places in all of Europe. Rape also is defined differently in the different societies; and job discrimination considered criminal on this side of the pond is considered not only normal but prudent elsewhere (I had an American friend who'd gotten her JD law degree (magna cum laude) from a German university, and was told outright that she would not be offered more than half of what her male classmates with lower scores would get, because after all she would be quitting in no time to have babies, and not even to think about being offered a partnership. Over here such a statement could get the law firm shut down.)
2. In part because of long prison sentences, and in part because of the increase in the average age of the population in the U.S. reducing the number and percentage of problem-prone late teen-aged males, criminal activity has gone down across the country and across the range of criminal activities, except for cyber crime and extreme gang-related violence.
3. At the same time, in part because of the antisocial immigrant population in many of the EU nations, and in part because of very short sentences for convicted criminals, criminal activity has gone up for much of Europe (I read recently that now England has a higher per capita violent crime rate than the U.S). The problems that get Rantburgers so exercised about Britain, where the householder who defends himself against a burglar is likely to be imprisoned for violating the criminal's civil rights, is unfortunately symptomatic of social values across much of the continent.
So, before we continue this discussion, Aris, you may want to do a little research on the issues involved, so that the discussion can take place based on real numbers rather than delightfully but uselessly airy concepts. |
2005-02-15 6:02:41 PM |
65.27.196.146 |