Violent crime in Britain
2009-07-03 08:08
London - Statistics compiled by the European Commission indicate that there is more violent crime in Britain than in South Africa.
The British public, who are often warned about the situation regarding crime in South Africa, were caught off-guard by this news.
As far as violence in relation to population size is concerned, Britain is at the top of the list according to these statistics, with 2 034 violent crimes for 100 000 people in 2007.
In Austria this figure is 1 677 for 100 000 people, in South Africa it's 1 609 and in Sweden it's 1 123. The South African figure was an average for the period 2006 to 2007.
According to the British media, however, South Africa is still the world's murder capital, with approximately 20 000 murders committed here annually, compared to 921 in Britain.
Europe’s most violent
The statistics are derived from European Commission documents, and were also distributed by the United Nations.
The British Conservative Party presented the data in the form of a table, and said the Labour party is to blame for the fact that Britain is now being considered Europe's most violent nation.
On the list, labelled the "list of shame" by the Conservatives, South Africa (3rd) and Canada (6th) are the only two non-European countries in the top ten.
The Daily Mail, however, was told by experts that the fact that "violence" is interpreted differently in different countries should be taken into account. For instance, where a disturbance is considered a violent offence under British law, in other countries such as South Africa, it's only considered a violent offence if someone is assaulted.
Another fact which has the British public concerned is that the incidence of violence has risen by 77% since 1998.
News websites were buzzing about the information on Thursday, and South Africans in Britain took part in the commentary with great enthusiasm.
Safe?
A certain Callum wrote on the Daily Mail's website that he didn’t believe, even for a second, that the crime level in Britain is higher than in South Africa.
"Britain and Europe are safe places to live."
In turn, Dean from Cape Town wrote that the news about Britain's crime levels didn’t surprise him in the least, and that it was precisely for that reason that he moved to South Africa.
"I feel much safer walking down the streets of South Africa. Most of the crime that happens here is in Johannesburg."
Another sceptic, Alan from London, believed the South African government's policy is "not to properly record the true crime figures".