Well that's an awfully simple way of putting it. I think there are A LOT of reasons why the U.S. is a far more violent society than other 1st world industrial nations. Our almost non-existent gun laws put guns all over the place. Our economic policies make it hard for the non educated to make a fair and decent living. I just read about a woman/mother in my state who robbed two banks because she couldn't stay afloat. Not the sort of criminal you'd see in Canada or Sweden, but we make it so damn hard on our citizens with our strident drive for profit, that it drives even some normal people into criminal behavior out of desparation (the new bankruptcy overhaul is an excellent example of making things even harder for the struggling lower rungs, who might just turn to the criminal world to get by). Our extreme focus on external matters (other countries) and neglect of our own country certainly contribute to our high crime rate. It's like our government just doesn't care about its citizens, hardly does anything to improve lives here, is more focuses on rebuilding Iraq and giving our money away. No wonder Americans feels so alienated and turn to crime?!? We also have a far more widespread drug culture in America, which leads to much of our crime and which is mainly caused by our severly restrictive drug laws. Funny, legal perscription drugs and alcohol kill many U.S. citizens, but are legal, while illicit drugs kill few and are illegal (which causes the violence in their distribution and procurement).
The U.S. is a society with many social ills, many of them self-created and supported by conservatives (lax gun laws, bad working conditions/pay, bankruptcy "reform", drug war, etc.). Don't be such a simpleton when it comes to crime. All you have to do is compare the U.S. to other countries to figure why we have such a high crime rate. |
