Unfortunately, the article I cited didn't make clear what the numbers were:
There is much less burglary of occupied residences in the United States than there is in countries like Canada or Australia or New Zealand or England. Even though we're off the charts compared to them on so many other violent crimes, we actually have less burglary of occupied residences. No one has been able to come up with a satisfactory explanation for this anomaly other than this explanation--American burglars, unlike burglars in other nations, face a substantial risk of getting shot. The statistic of an American burglar's chance of getting shot is about equal to his chance of going to jail. It's about one to two percent in each case if he breaks into an occupied home. If you figure that prison deters some burglaries, then getting shot (which is a more severe consequence and a more immediate one), deters some others. That is why American burglars, as policemen everywhere in the country will tell you, make a point of trying not to enter occupied homes, which is not something that burglars in Canada or Great Britain will bother to do. Even though there's a fairly high gun density in Canada, about a quarter of households there have guns, there's much less interest in owning a gun for self-defense and having it available. I think that's part of the explanation why American homes are safer from burglars than are other homes.
Message 15601112
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