Homicides per 100,000 in G8 Countries

Gun Watch ^ | 26 October, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

You can see from the above that Russia has about twice as many homicides per hundred thousand as the United States, even though Russia has very restrictive laws on possession and carrying of firearms.

The above chart was created from UNODC data.

If you look at the chart below created by ABC, the United States seems to be an outlier.  No data is given for Russia, and the Y axis mentions that it is only for gun related homicides.   The large header leaves out the word "Gun".  These are serious clues that the chart is designed to mislead.




Only looking at gun related homicides is a clear case of data selection bias.   It does not matter to a homicide victim if they are killed with a gun, a machete, poison, or a violent mob.   They are still dead.   Firearms, of course, may be used for defense as well as attack, so restrictions could increase as well decrease homicides.   Attempting to restrict one method may simply result in a substitution of methods.   You need to look at the totals to see if there is a net increase or decrease in homicides. 

There are enormous problems with international comparisons.  Differences in culture, data collection, and definitions make comparisons very difficult, perhaps to the point of meaninglessness.   Culture is far more important than method or economic condition.  Why chose the G8 countries, instead of say, New World countries, or geographically large, ethnically diverse, countries?  You could as easily make the case that Brazil, Mexico, the United States, and Canada should be grouped together, as that of G8 countries.

Here is a chart showing homicide rates for all the countries of the world that we have data for:

Chart from Crime Prevention Research Center

Here is a chart comparing Brazil, Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

It is noteworthy that Brazil and Mexico have extreme restrictions on the private ownership of firearms, Canada is less restrictive, and the United States is less restrictive than Canada.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

In England and Wales, homicides are only counted when someone is convicted; political terrorism is not considered a homicide and is not counted.

I do not know if Islamic terrorism falls into that category or not.

[Chainmail]

Great data - thank you!

[Eurotwit]

You are Afghans?

[Eurotwit]

You are Liberians?

[Eurotwit]

You are proud of this? Being Afgan, Liberian?

[marktwain]

The United States is an ethnically diverse country. If you separate out the European ethnicities, you find that they have homicide rates that are similar to those in Europe.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/european-murder-rates-compared-to.html

[Manly Warrior]

Homicide needs to be defined- if homicide means death by another human, it is too vague. If it means murder or other unlawful killing, then it is relevant.

The numbers change dramatically if the latter.

[Ironfocus]

Remove the dimocrat controlled cities New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit from the list, then see what the US homicide rate is.

[marktwain]

Here is the definition from the source:

List of countries by intentional homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants. The reliability of underlying national murder rate data may vary.[1] The legal definition of “intentional homicide” differs among countries. Intentional homicide may or may not include infanticide, assisted suicide or euthanasia.[2]

[Kozak]

Love to see what the stat would be if you removed Black Males 16 to 35 from the calculation for the U.S....

[PGalt]

GRRRRRREAT post. Thanks.

[CodeToad]

Ditch inner city homicides by blacks and Hispanics and ours is the lowest of any nation.

[PGalt]

Remove the dimocrat controlled cities New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit from the list, then see what the US homicide rate is.

BUMP!

A government propagandist will no doubt get on that fast & furious. /s

[PapaBear3625]

At one point I looked at the breakdowns of homicide data. The homicide rate of Americans of European descent is about what it is for Europe as a whole. The black and Hispanic homicide rates are several times the European-American rate, and bring the average up.

[rdcbn]

The United States is an ethnically diverse country. If you separate out the European ethnicities, you find that they have homicide rates that are similar to those in Europe.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/01/european-murder-rates-compared-to.html

---

More fun with statistics.

If you adjust the Non Hispanic White homicide rate by removing homicides related to Non Hispanic Whites defending themselves from assaults, muggings and other criminal behavior perpetrated by Blacks and Hispanic Whites, the Non Hispanic White homicide rate drops below that of most of Europe and begins to approach that of Japan.

[Moltke]

It does not matter to a homicide victim if they are killed with a gun, a machete, poison, or a violent mob.

I for one would rather take the bullet than be hacked to pieces with a machete. YMMV (your murder may vary)

[Manly Warrior]

Any mention of lawful intentional homicide ( self defense, police etc? Gotta get to the real numbers of illegal homicide/crime etc. Otherwise, it is just vagueness manipulated for political purposes.

[marktwain]

The definition given implies that the intentional homicides are illegal, but each country defines things in different ways. International comarisons are not very informative.

Mostly it is as you say, vagueness manipulated for political purposes.

My best “feel” for the data, and I have read most of the studies, is that the private possession of firearms has very little to do with homicide rates. There may be a slight decrease in homicide rates when more people lawfully carry firearms, but it is not large.

Restricting guns seems to have far more to do with politicians disliking the idea of an armed population than any other reason.