Originally posted by The Dark Side of Will
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In terms of homicides, Mexico is first, then Estonia, with US third. We're 4th in rape, not even remotely close to "middle of the pack."
I corrected you on the actual population levels of the countries at issue. The 15m population figure you were trying to make your point with isn't relevant because you made it up. You aren't making any point at all when you just make up a population number in an attempt to show how rates don't matter--and the situation is worse when you're completely wrong and the population numbers are actually fairly similar. Aside from that, it doesn't matter because *rates* are calculated relative to the population level. Unless you're trying to argue that less people in a country somehow makes for more crime the example you gave is arguing the opposite of your point. (That is, you argued "of course those places have a higher murder rate, they have less people" which doesn't make sense)
Also, using the UCR for comparison tends to create a substantial misunderstanding of what's going on.
Our national average data masks local hotspots of crime. Rolling Stone didn't compare total US rates, you'll notice, they specifically pointed out that places like Detroit and New Orleans have stratospheric murder rates.
In a place like Detroit, where the murder rate is hovering around 60% (as opposed to our national rate of 5%), a young male has a better chance of coming home alive when he leaves his house by flipping a coin.
The UCR data is problematic in that it compresses cities like Irvine, CA (0 murders -- well actually I think there might have been 2 last year because that cop murdered those two people. you guys probably remember the news story...and that speaks to how rare murder is in the wealthy parts of the OC) with places like Santa Ana (about a dozen murders) and Long Beach (around 40 murders). It gives the impression that the region is relatively safe compared to other places when the actual reality of it is that certain cities within the region are much, much safer than communities bordering the safe cities.
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