Evidently it's not the USA or Switzerland. Also of note is Finland. They are
one of the low countries and I believe they may have gun ownership rates that
approach the rate in the USA.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4140850,00.html

England and Wales top crime league Special report: policing crimeAlan Travis,
home affairs editor
Friday February 23, 2001
The GuardianEngland and Wales have one of the worst crime records in the
industrialised world - even worse than America - according to the findings of
an official survey published yesterday which compares the experience of victims
across 17 countries. The study, coordinated by the Dutch ministry of justice,
shows England and Wales at the top of the world league with Australia as the
countries where you are most likely to become a victim of crime. These
countries face an annual rate of 58 crimes for every 100 inhabitants. The
findings, based on interviews with 35,000 people about their experience of
crime across the 17 countries, were carried out last year. They are a blow to
Labour's record and underline the challenge facing Tony Blair when he marks the
launch of Labour's 10-year anti-crime plan next Monday by becoming the first
serving prime minister to visit a prison. The 2000 International Crime
Victimisation survey shows that the falls in crime recorded since the mid-1990s
in England and Wales are part of a general pattern of falling crime across the
industrialised world but, unlike America, crime levels in England and Wales are
still higher than they were at the end of the 1980s. When the survey was last
carried out in 1996, England and Wales also topped the league table with 61
offences per 100 inhabitants. The survey does show, however, that Britain has
the best services when it comes to looking after the victims of crime, but it
also shows we have a tougher approach to punishing criminals. Asked what should
be done with a burglar convicted of stealing a colour television for a second
time, more than 50% in England and Wales said he or she should be sent to
prison for two years. Only 7% in Spain and 12% in France thought he or she
should be jailed at all. People were asked whether they had been victims of a
range of 11 different offences in the previous 12 months, including violent and
sexual assault, car crime, burglary and consumer fraud. The survey also shows
that Scotland, with 43 offences per 100 inhabitants, ranks joint fifth
alongside America in the international crime league behind England, Australia,
the Netherlands and Sweden. Northern Ireland has the second best crime record
of the countries surveyed, with 24 offences per 100 inhabitants - the same rate
as Switzerland and only just above Japan where the biggest crime problem is
bicycle thefts. The detailed findings of the ICVS survey showthat England and
Wales are top of the international league for car thefts with 2.6% of all car
owners suffering the loss of their vehicle in the previous 12 months. In other
sorts of car crime, England was second only to Poland. Australia and then
England and Wales had the highest burglary rates and rates for violent crimes
such as robbery, assault and sexual assault . One area in which England and
Wales did not feature at the top of the league was in consumer fraud, which is
far more of a problem in Poland, Denmark and the US. Some 5% of Polish people
surveyed said they had had to pay a bribe to a police officer or government
official in the previous 12 months. The survey says the results show the
industrialised world splitting into three separate groups as far as crime is
concerned. High crime countries where more than 24% of the population are
victims of crime each year are Australia, England and Wales, the Netherlands
and Sweden. Canada, Scotland, Denmark, Poland, Belgium, France and America are
medium crime countries where between 20% and 24% are crime victims each year.
Low crime countries which have crime victimisation rates below 20% are Finland,
Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Japan and Northern Ireland.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001