[SVMc]

I think this is way too broad of an oversimplification.

First of all you haven't discussed what types of crime you are referring to. I'm assuming street crime by the tone of the debate so far.

Second, can you please give a source for the following:

In fact, in the UK alone, crime rates have risen over 412% in the last 70 years

I'm more inclined to belive that crime rates are falling:

Since 1995, the BCS has reported a fall in crime at each successive survey. There has been a 25 per cent fall in the crime measured by the BCS over the last five years, between 1997 and the 2002/03 BCS (see chart). The risk of becoming a victim of crime is still historically low at 27%, around the same level as the first BCS in 1982, and one - third lower than the risk in 1995 (40%). http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/statistics28.htm

Collectively law enforcement agencies throughout the United States reported a decrease of 2.0% in the number of violent crimes when brought to their attention in the first 6 months of 2004 when compared to firgures reported in the first half of 2003 http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2004/6mosprelim04.pdf

OTTAWA - The national crime rate reached its lowest level in 20 years in 1999, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday. The overall crime rate dropped five per cent, making it the eighth year in a row a decrease has been recorded. http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view...ime_rate000718

The figures confirm New Zealand crime rates have been trending down since peaking in 1996, Mr Hawkins said. Taking into account that New Zealand's population grew by approximately 277,000 people between 1996 and 2003, total recorded crime figures in 2003 were 7.3 percent lower than 1996, and the resolution rate 6.7 percent better. http://www.ndp.govt.nz/media/2004/ha...march2004.html

According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, in its report, Australian Crime - Facts and Figures, released in October 1999, these laws have significantly affected Australia's crime and injury rates. All gun deaths, be they homicides, suicides or unintentional shootings, have decreased from a total of 521 in 1996 to 437 in 1997. This figure of 437 gun deaths is the lowest number in 18 years (1). Only one out of every five armed robbery in Australia involves a gun, and the "number of armed robberies involving a firearm (have) decreased to a six-year low"(2). In contrast, robberies involving weapons such as a knife or stick have increased by nearly 20%, which indicates that other weapons are replacing firearms. That such substitution is being accompanied by a decline in gun deaths reveals the lethality of firearms - when they are not used, fewer people are killed. http://www.gca.org.za/facts/briefs/21.htm

However I'm not surprised that people find the falling crime rate counterintutive. After all, politicians all still run on the promise to reduce crime.... (the scarcastic side of me thinks they may as well seeing as it's a prominse that seems easily kept)... and we as socieites seem to live in greater fear of crime.

That would be the question for me. If crime rates are falling, then why do think we are more likely instead of less likely to be a victim of crime? Is it the over broacasting of crime? The politicking of crime? The otherness of crime?

I also find it interesting that while Mr. Dalrymple is able to draw quite a clear simatry between government oppression and crime in developing world slums to such global repression he still says:

Still, all these were political evils, which my own country had entirely escaped. I optimistically supposed that, in the absence of the worst political deformations, widespread evil was impossible.

Many of the abhorent developing world condidtions that Mr Dalrymple sees Britain as having escaped were caused in those very countries to a great degree by the rapid de-colonization of the British empire. Leaving vaccums of power and providing band-aid relief provided perfect opportunities for dictatorships and repressive regimes to arise.... are we considering these crimes?

What about the Enron's and possibly Nortel's of this day and age? Why are they never as feared as the street crime?

And Mr. Dalrymple fails to acknowlege that while we now have overwhelming data on single mothers and absentee fathers, this data was simply not collected in any significant let alone national scope even as recently as 60 years ago. I can't find the origins of the collection of data on spousal abuse for the United States but Canada did not begin tracking it until 1980. http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/fm...pousal.html#11 Having reliable data on spousal abuse is necessairy when we consider the quality of family life as a factor in crime.

While I do agree that the collapse of the family unit plays a part in some criminal action, I also think poverty, global trends, economics, unemployment, media, education, social status, community linkages and a host of other factor are incredibly important to consider with the same weight as the family unit.