Crime in the UK

Jim, in comments, raises the old gunloon canard that the UK is a far more violent place than the US, South Africa, and most EU countries.

He cites this article.  In a nutshell, The Daily Mail argues that the UK has a violent crime rate of 2,034 per 100,000 citizens, the US has 466 per 100K and South Africa has 1,677 per 100K.

Now, if I were a gunloon, I'd attack the messenger.  I might point out The Daily Mail was big champion of Adolf Hitler, in particular, and fascism, in general. I might point out The Daily Mail has lost a number of libel suits to various people, including Elton John, Diana Rigg, and Kate Winslet to mention a few.

But I won't.

Instead, I"ll point out The Daily Mail fails to note crime statistics vary from nation to nation, both in the way they're categorized and the way they're tabulated.  For instance, playing one's stereo too loud is counted as a violent crime in the UK--in most other countries, it may not even rate a misdemeanor charge.  Similarly, the UK has what is called an affray which consists of 2 or more people fighting/arguing in a public place--this, too, is categorized as a violent crime.  In the US, such an instance might rate a misdemeanor.

It's very easy to see The Daily Mail piece doesn't pass the smell test.  We know homide rates in, say South Africa are about 10 times higher than the US and nearly 40 times higher than the UK.