Monday, March 06, 2006

The Myth of Low Crime in Canada

Canadian Crime Statics from 2004 per 100,000 population as reported by Canadian Police:

Crimes of Violence: 946
Attempted Murder: 2.2
Assault: 731
Sexual Assault: 73.7
Other Sexual Offenses: 8.2
Robbery: 86
Other Crimes of Violence: 42.3

Now before we go on, lets define some things. The Assault numbers are inflated, because they lumped all levels of assault, from say wearing a weapon in public to beating someone with a baseball bat, into one number. Since our American numbers don't account for that, lets just through out the Canadian numbers completely. Instead of 946 per 100,000, we'll call it 215 per 100,000. Now America doesn't have a chance right? Because the American numbers I'm about to show you actually include what Canadians call Level 2 and 3 assault.

United States of America

Violent Crimes per 100,000, as reported by police:

Murder, Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault, Rape, and Robbery: 395

Canada: 215 per 100,00
US: 395 per 100,000.


So for every 1 serious violent crime in Canada, we have 1.8 serious violent crimes in the United States. Why that's just a startling difference. Ain't it?

Then again... remember... that 215 isn't the legit number. That's removing all of the class 2 and class 3 assaults from the Canadian number, which are included in the American number.

Uh oh.

So how many Class 2 and Class 3 assaults are there in Canada each year? I dunno... but when ya consider that the total assault rate is 731... I'd wager that its more than 180. Wouldn't you?

So much for the myth of low crime in Canada.

***I made an egregiously careless error this morning when I first posted this. It was just heinous. Probably the stupidest thing I've ever posted. I thought about leaving it for everyone to see... but then it occurred to me that some one might actually read it and believe it. Trust me when I tell you I'm an idiot before my third cup of coffee... particularly when it comes to simple math. I apologize. Thanks to Doc for pointin' it out.***

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