[jameszol]

I've been interested in crime stats and arguments for some time; thus, I'm interested to know where you are getting your data to make such assumptions that UK criminals don't use weapons on civilians when sources dictate that the UK is among the most violent in Europe and perhaps 2x more violent than in the USA?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_crime#United_Kingdom

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573...

Dozens more sources similar to what you can find in the above links if you search via your favorite search engine.

Violence is classified somewhat differently in the UK; however, removing the differences in classification still shows the UK leading in violent crimes vs the US or a fair number of other countries.

[citricsquid]

The UK is not more violent than America. Most years we have less than 1000 murders total across every single type of murder, the US has 10x that from firearms alone with only a 6x larger population. You hit on the reason why our violent crime seems to be so high, almost every crime that could be violent is counted as violent (for example if someone broke into my apartment while I was out) and in most other countries that isn't the case. What crimes does the UK have (that are violent) that are higher in number than America? Every single crime type that I've been able to find comparative statistics for shows the US to be higher. The UK certainly isn't a crime free utopia where nobody locks their doors but it is not the violent place you paint it as, especially when compared to the US.

Also for some hilarious reading, why not read this article from THE SAME publication that you linked to that says the UK has a massive knife crime problem: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1546085/The-vagaries-...

    The different between the two estimates - derived from the questioning of 
    around 600 under-25s  about whether they had been "knifed or stabbed", 
    and then extrapolated to the wider population, with all the statistical 
    vagaries that entails - reflects the lack of precise information about the 
    scale of knife crime in England and Wales.

[jameszol]

Higher in actual number is almost always going to be relative to the population, isn't it? Per capita is more accurate while it still is lacking for comparison purposes.

I agree that murder, as one type of violent crime, is more prominent here in the US than in the UK on a per capita basis.

Crime stats are most definitely open to a lot of interpretation between countries, actual reported statistics vs unreported, varying definitions, and more.

[Kequc]

The Telegraph is a conservative rag for one thing, like Fox news.

Even in that article it provides the number 927 murders in 2007. Compared to America's 16,929 murders in 2007. America's population is much larger than the UK though, 4.91 times. So you multiply the UK's murder rate by nearly 5 and get a paltry 4,557 compared to America's 16,929.

http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/offenses/violent_crime/murd...

http://www.usa-vs-uk.com/population.html

[jameszol]

I agree.

Murder is unequivocally a violent crime; however, I believe "violent crimes" can cover assault of just about any type, sexual crimes and more.