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1 Carol B. Kalish, International Crime Rates 1 (1988)

handle is hein.death/intcra0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice SBureau of Justice Statistics Intemational Crime Rates by Carol B. Kalish BJS Analyst Based upon data on crimes reported to law enforcement authorities collected by the United Nations (UN) and the International Police Organization (In- terpol) and upon data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the rate of violent crime in the United States is several times higher than in other countries for which information is available. The rate of property crime in the United States is also higher than in the majority of these countries. Crimes of violence (homicide, rape, and robbery) are 4-9 times more fre- quent in the United States than they are in Europe; crimes of theft (bur- glary, theft, and auto theft) are also more frequent, but not to the same de- gree. However, between 1980 and 1984 the difference between U.S. crime rates and rates for other countries narrowed because U.S. crime rates de- creased while rates for other countries generally increased. This study was originally intended to include the 20 countries of the world with populations of 50 million or more; all other countries in North America, South America, and Europe; and Aus- tralia and New Zealand--a total of 62 countries. Only 41 countries in these categories provided data to at least 1 of the 3 international organizations that collect information on crime. The study focused on the crimes of homicide, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, and auto theft because these crimes are most likely to be understood and defined in the same general way from country to country. The UN pro- vided statistics on homicide, rape, rob- bery, and theft (including burglary and auto theft); Interpol, on homicide, rape, robbery, burglary, and auto theft; and WHO, on homicide. May 1988 This Special Report is the second in a series of publications on inter- national criminal justice statistics and cross-national comparisons. The report brings together all of the international statistical series on crime rates from 1980 to 1984 for a large number of countries. This is the first time these data have been collected into one document, and we hope that it will be of assistance to criminal justice professionals and researchers. This report assesses the avail- able international statistical series in terms of their completeness, comparability, and accuracy. It also compares U.S. crime rates with those of other countries. The overall higher rates for the United States, especially for crimes of violence, warrant further inves- tigation. The results of this report suggest that much needs to be done to improve the quality of international crime statistics. A great deal, however, can be ac- complished with a modest invest- ment of effort. The consequent improvements in our ability to compare crime rates among na- tions will be well worth that investment. Steven R. Schlesinger Director Crime rates from country to country are difficult to compare because of dif- ferences in criminal justice systems, in definitions of crime, in crime reporting practices and recordkeeping, and in methods of reporting statistics to international agencies. Two techniques were used to reduce some of the ef- fects of this variability. First, more than one data source was used when- ever possible. Second, for purposes of direct comparison with the United States, all European countries in each data set were averaged together, and a second group--Canada, Australia, and New Zealand--were also averaged when data were reported for at least two of these countries. Overall comparisons U.S. crime rates for the three violent crimes studied were several times high- er than the averages for reporting European countries. The U.S. homicide rate per 100,000 persons in the popula- tion ranged from 10.5 (WHO 1980) to 7.9 (Interpol 1984); the rate of homicide in Europe from all 3 sources was less than 2 per 100,000 (table 1). The U.S. crime rate for rape was around 36 per 100,000, roughly 7 times higher than the average for Europe. Each data source showed U.S. crime rates for robbery at more than 200 per 100,000, compared to European rates of less than 50 per 100,000. For the crimes of theft and auto theft the ratio of U.S. rates to average European rates was roughly 2 to 1. Burglary was the only crime examined for which U.S. rates were less than double those for European countries. The U.S. rates for violent crime were also higher than those of the second group (Canada, Australia, and New Zea- land), but the differences were smaller, compared to Europe. For burglary and auto theft the rates were quite similar. In fact, 1984 Interpol data show a burglary rate for the combined group that is about 40% higher than the U.S. rate. 0

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