OK, what the hell has happened to the Brits?

"Wdtabor" wrote in message
...
In article , "Paul Sengupta"
writes:
You have to realise that the way of life is different over here.

Yes, it is. Strongarm robberies, home invasion robberies, assualt and
battery,
and stranger rape are far more common than here in the states.

Really? I didn't know that. I can believe that burglaries and
stealing car stereos are more prevalent - it's much softer and
easier for unarmed criminals over here to do that than hold up
petrol stations/shops which seems to be more prevalent over
there.

Assault and rape, well, I don't know about those. Have to look
them up.

First google search came up with this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/810522.stm

Apparently, rape is 3 times higher in the US than the UK.
Murder is 5.7 times higher. Shootings (no surprise) are 60
times higher. 68% of murders in the US are shootings, 7%
in England and Wales. The report agrees that burglary,
assault and car crime is higher in the UK.

Maybe with the assault figues it's a case of more pub/
neighbour/whatever brawls get away with being assaults
whereas in the US they end up as murder rather than
assault statistics! :-) (I'm semi-joking here, please don't take
offence!)

Burglaries often (mostly?) happen when there's no one
home. Arming people wouldn't change anything. And just
because people don't have guns in their homes, it doesn't
mean they don't have big D-cell torches, hockey sticks, etc,
with which to defend themselves and their property. It's
catching the b*gg*rs at it that's the problem.

I caught someone breaking into my car once. Didn't need
any weapons, I just held him by his outstretched arm until
the police arrived.

Oh, and someone said New York was the worst place in
the US...I think it's long ceased to be that. I believe that title
now goes to Washington DC. According to the web page,
the murder rate in NY is 8.6 per 100,000, whereas in
Washington DC it's 49.15 per 100,000. England and Wales
as a whole is 1.4, London is 2.9. US average is 6.3.

During my (on average) once a year (for 1 or 2 weeks) visits
to Winter Haven in Florida, a pretty smallish town, I've
arrived a day after a policeman was shot dead on one
occasion, and on another, turned up at the Winn Dixie just as
the police were laying out the tape after a drive-by shooting.
Other friends of mine were inside the shop! But no one locks
their cars when they go shopping.

Paul