[ardit33]

No it is not that. The main reason is that even if you get caught stealing you only get something like 15- 30days of jail. It is like a two week vacation for a pocket picker, then they are out again.

In SouthEastern countries they get 1, 2 or up 4 years in jail. Guess, what? There is less of them in the streets and if they are less likely to do it again.

So, being too lenient in crime creates the nightmare that Barcelona is, and draws in criminals from the rest of Europe (it is still a very beautiful city to visit).

http://documentaryheaven.com/scam-city-barcelona/

[madeofpalk]

> In SouthEastern [...] there is less of them in the streets and if they are less likely to do it again.

Really? Of course only anecdotally, I've always had a worse impression of this 'street crime' in SEA than in places like Barcelona.

[ardit33]

Romania vs Spain, Spain is clearly worse crime wise. https://www.numbeo.com/crime/compare_countries_result.jsp?co...

When you compare Bucharest (the capital city) with Barcelona, Barcelona fares a lot worse.

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Rom...

Index Info Bucharest | Barcelona

Crime Index: 28.48 | 45.08

Safety Scale: 71.52 | 54.92

I know, by reputation the Balkan Region doesn't look good, but when you look at the data it paints a totally different picture. My hunch is that a lot of petty thieves types have moved into Western Europe as the business is more lucrative there.

[kartan]

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent...

Position ... Murder rate per million

74 Romania 19.6 2009

102 Spain 8.69 2009

Your numbers are not in contradiction with my reasoning. More pretty thief is more crime, but it is less violent crime.

[MandieD]

numbeo is a measurement of perceptions of crime, not actual crime rates. Looking at Stockholm vs. Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Stockholm comes off the worse for safely walking at night.

[madeofpalk]

Oh, apologies. I thought you meant south east Asia. I've never thought of crime in Romania.

[StudentStuff]

Citations?

[ardit33]

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/compare_countries_result.jsp?co...