Just seen this on the USA...
Crime hits record low in US
ananova.com
Crime in the US has dropped to the lowest level since records began 30-years-ago, official figures show.
About 23 million violent and property crimes were reported in 2002, down from 44 million in 1973, according to the US Justice Department.
Rapes, robberies and assaults fell by 54.6% during the last decade, while burglary and car theft halved over the same period.
Criminologists attributed the decline to a drop in gang membership, improved home security that deters would-be burglars, and a fall in violence in the illegal drug trade.
The ageing population is also believed to be a factor, as violent crime is predominantly committed by young men. Other experts say the drop is due to tougher jail sentences that take people off the streets for longer.
At the end of 2001, more than 5.6 million people - one in every 37 American adults - were either in prison or had served jail time during their lives, US government figures showed last week.
But the Justice Policy Institute, a research group that supports alternatives to prison, said that areas in the US with higher jail expansion rates experienced more murders in 2002.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft said the drop in overall crime was because people were more willing to report crime and the dedicated work of police, prosecutors and judges.
The decline in violent crime was experienced by all demographic groups, according to the survey - which is based on interviews with a representative sample of about 76,000 US residents.
But, there has been a slight rise in the number of murders, which are measured separately by the FBI. In 2002, 16,110 people were murdered - a 0.8 percentage point rise on 2001. |
