"Murderous London is like old New York"

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sheffield and Pittsburgh are a similer size, have similer political outlooks, a similer (historical) economic base and similer economic problems due to the collapse of said base.

Compare those two

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The U.K has a big problem with petty crime (which is as bad as it is 'cos of Thatcher) but the ASBO's seem to be working well.
It does not have a problem with more serious crimes, and describing London as "murderous" is pathetic.

In addition to this, there are two sets of Crime figures published in the U.K:

1. Recorded Crime
2. British Crime Survey (a massive poll. IIRC it's 20,000 people. May be less may be more)

People are much more likely to report a crime now than they were even ten years ago.

Oh... and for the record I have been a victim of crime this year and no a gun would not have helped the slightest

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Just a post before mine you were all gung ho to compare crime statistics between nations when you thought they said what you wanted them to say. 

Looking at the numbers for England/Wales your statement about an increase in % reported is correct from 1981-1991, but then the report rate declined from then until 1999.  In some cases the percentage being reported is below 1981 levels.  You can find this data for each crime as probibility reported/offense.

EDIT: In fairness the number of reported assaults did shoot up in 1999.  It does seem the efforts to not tolerate violence yielded some fruit.  The tolerance for petty or non violent crimes is back where it was when the study began though.

The Coppers have been trying to get the number of unreported offenses down. Comparing reported crimes year-on-year is (IMO) extremely risky.
Which is why the British Crime Survey was set up