RE: Reducing Crime

["Lynn Hauka" <lynn@evening-star.com>]

Hi Greg,

I lived in Germany for over three years in the late 70's and early 80's, and
still go back for the occasional visit. Then, as I'm pretty sure now too,
the gun laws were very, very strict. There's also a completely different
attitude toward owning guns than in the U.S., generally speaking. There is
not the cultural imperative "must have gun" (said in best Homer Simpson
voice *g*) there that there is in the States.

Added to that, the police have quite a bit more latitude to deal with
criminal behavior without the consideration of the same scope rights of the
accused which prevail in the U.S.

They also pretty swiftly deal with what we'd all probably consider simply
unruly behavior. I remember one night, walking back to my apartment from a
beer fest, being astonished that a few of the local cops were patrolling the
street in protective gear with nightsticks out, instantly collaring folks
who were loudly obnoxiously drunk and rowdy and disturbing the peace of the
residential area. They were pretty menacing and that wasn't the only
instance I observed. As an idealistic young southern Californian, it sure
made an impression.

My German friends - some of whom want to immigrate to the US or Canada -
often describe themselves and their compatriots as obedient sheep. There is
a lot of entrenched admiration of the Wild West, John Wayne, country western
gunrack kind of scenario because it's so totally different to that culture.

So...do the tough gun laws make a difference? Probably although not solely.
I really believe laws won't make a dent in crime unless we couple it with a
big re-education in attitude.

P.S. Canada also has an extremely low crime rate compared to the U.S. and
the gun laws are quite strict here too.

Take care,
Lynn

> -----Original Message-----
> From: noprivacy@essential.org [mailto:noprivacy@essential.org]On Behalf
> Of Greg Peisert
> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 1999 3:31 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list NOPRIVACY
> Subject: RE: Reducing Crime
>
>
> Interesting Discussion;
>
>   It seems that in Europe, the crime rate is far lower than in
> the U.S. (I
> don't have the stats handy). Same with Japan. What do they do
> that we don't
> do, and what would be the consequences and costs of doing it
> here? Anybody
> have some insight on that?
>
> --Greg
>

>