All men die....only a few truly live....
Posted on 09/20/2005 7:55:35 AM PDT by Valin
A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest.
The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults.
Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.
The attacks have been fuelled by a “booze and blades” culture in the west of Scotland which has claimed more than 160 lives over the past five years. Since January there have been 13 murders, 145 attempted murders and 1,100 serious assaults involving knives in the west of Scotland. The problem is made worse by sectarian violence, with hospitals reporting higher admissions following Old Firm matches.
David Ritchie, an accident and emergency consultant at Glasgow’s Victoria Infirmary, said that the figures were a national disgrace. “I am embarrassed as a Scot that we are seeing this level of violence. Politicians must do something about this problem. This is a serious public health issue. Violence is a cancer in this part of the world,” he said.
Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of the Strathclyde Police’s violence reduction unit, said the problem was chronic and restricting access to drink and limiting the sale of knives would at least reduce the problem.
The study, by the UN’s crime research institute, found that 3 per cent of Scots had been victims of assault compared with 1.2 per cent in America and just 0.1 per cent in Japan, 0.2 per cent in Italy and 0.8 per cent in Austria. In England and Wales the figure was 2.8 per cent.
Scotland was eighth for total crime, 13th for property crime, 12th for robbery and 14th for sexual assault. New Zealand had the most property crimes and sexual assaults, while Poland had the most robberies.
Chief Constable Peter Wilson, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, questioned the figures. “It must be near impossible to compare assault figures from one country to the next based on phone calls,” he said.
“We have been doing extensive research into violent crime in Scotland for some years now and this has shown that in the vast majority of cases, victims of violent crime are known to each other. We do accept, however, that, despite your chances of being a victim of assault being low in Scotland, a problem does exist.”
Golf will do that to people.
Oh hell. We can do that in one weekend in America.
Scotland is part of the UK. This is like calling "Louisiana" the most violent nation in the world.
Should we rely on anything accurate coming from Kofi's domain?
Good thing that they have strong gun control laws, or folks might get hurt. (/sarcasm)
Could it possibly be that criminals are more likely to attack people when they are certain that their intended victim is unarmed?
Scotland is currently undergoing "devolution." It not only has its own independent national church and national legislature separate from the rest of the UK, it is moving further toward full independence every day.
Hmm, what's changed in the UK over the past 20 years that could account for this... hmm, let me think... Ah, I've got it! It's global warming!
(pardon the double-post)
It's the bag pipes, don't ye know.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, it is not a GUN problem, but a KNIFE problem. They banned those evil guns. So, next step is too, ban knives??????????
Socialism rears its ugly head again and again.
Scotland has a very high rate of alcoholism. My guess is that booze is the cause of most of the violence
I'm of Scottish descent myself.
Dundee born George Galloway
Do people underestimate his nastiness?
Does his "cute" Scottish accent allow him to get away with cruel comments?
What is it about "feisty, dictatorial" guys with accents?
Did Hitler's "cute" Austrian accent endear him to the Germans?
Did Napoleon's thick Corsican accent endear him to the French?
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