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Well, the data that I have read (and posted) referred only to homocide, not violence in general. I have a problem with those stats because thats very subjective (what is included as violence?). For example, rape may be reported as violence in some countries but not others.
1. The quality or state of being violent; highly excited action, whether physical or moral; vehemence; impetuosity; force.
2. Injury done to that which is entitled to respect, reverence, or observance; profanation; infringement; unjust force; outrage; assault.
3. Ravishment; rape; constupration.
It seems pretty clear to me, if you commit a crime (rape, assault, burglary, theft, etc) it would be considered violent. And I don't know what civilized country wouldnt count rape as violent.
http://www.minjust.nl:8080/b_organ/w...s/ob187sum.htm
Overall victimisation
* The ICVS allows an overall measure of victimisation which is the percentage of people victimised once or more in the previous year by any of the eleven crimes covered by the survey. This prevalence measure is a simple but robust indicator of overall proneness to crime. The countries fall into three bands.
o Above 24% (victim of any crime in 1999): Australia, England and Wales, the Netherlands and Sweden
o 20%-24%: Canada, Scotland, Denmark, Poland, Belgium, France, and USA
o Under 20%: Finland, Catalonia (Spain), Switzerland, Portugal, Japan and Northern Ireland.
* For countries in previous sweeps of the ICVS, the present results generally mirror previous ones as regards relative rankings.
* In terms of the number of crimes experienced per 100 people (an incidence rate), the picture is slightly different. The USA fares relatively worse on incidence rates than on prevalence rates. In contrast, the position of Denmark and Canada slip down somewhat. Incidence rates are highest in England and Wales, Australia and the Netherlands.
Car-related crime
* The risk of having a car stolen was highest in England and Wales (2.6% of owners had a theft), Australia (2.1%), and France (1.9%). Japan, Switzerland, Catalonia, the USA, Finland, and the Netherlands show risks of 0.5% or less.
* Those in Poland, Japan, Belgium and the Netherlands were least likely to get their cars back - indicating proportionately more professional theft. Recovery rates were above 80% in Sweden, Australia, and the USA - indicating more thefts for 'joyriding'. In the eleven countries with surveys in 1996 and 2000, there is little change in the proportion of stolen cars recovered, but it is now lower than it was in 1992, probably indicating a general move towards more professional theft since then.
* Having something stolen from a car (e.g., luggage, radios, car mirrors etc.) was more common. Highest risks were in Poland (9% of owners had one or more theft), England and Wales (8%), Australia (7%) and the USA (7%). Risks were lowest in Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Japan: 4% or less were victimised.
* Car vandalism was most common in Scotland (12% of owners had their car damaged), Poland, England and Wales, the Netherlands and Australia (about 10%-11%). Risks were low in Northern Ireland, Japan, Denmark and Switzerland (less than 5%). Countries with higher rates of car vandalism generally had higher rates of thefts from cars, but the association between vandalism and thefts of cars was weaker.
Motorcycle theft
* Highest risks of motorcycle and moped theft were in Denmark and England and Wales (4% of owners were victimised). Although Japan has low risks for most crimes, thefts of motorcycles was comparatively high (3%).
Bicycle theft
* For bicycle theft, the highest risks were in Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark (about 8% of owners had a bicycle taken).
* The 2000 ICVS results suggest - as in previous years - that bicycle theft is highest in countries where there are most bicycles owned: ie, a plentiful supply of targets encourages rather than dampens theft demand. Also, where bicycle theft is common, stealing cars occurs less often - though the relationship is rather less strong than in earlier ICVS sweeps.
Burglary
* The proportion of households who had a completed or attempted burglary was highest in Australia (7%), England and Wales (5%), Canada, Denmark and Belgium (all 4%).
* The pattern of relative risk is reasonably similar whether the focus is on burglary with entry or attempts. Where burglars are successful in gaining entry, they are also more active in trying to do so.
* Nonetheless, the proportion of burglaries that involved attempts varied somewhat by country. More attempts at entry failed in Finland, France, Belgium, Scotland, the Netherlands, England and Wales, Switzerland and the USA (all had above 50% attempts). With the exception of Finland, the ICVS evidence suggests that homes in these countries are better protected by security devices. This may explain why burglars more often fail to gain entry.
Theft of personal property
* Thefts of personal property will be heterogeneous in nature, but the highest risks were in Australia, Sweden, and Poland (about 5%-6% of people were victimised).
* In roughly a third of thefts, the victim was carrying what was stolen - termed 'pickpocketing'. Risks of pickpocketing were most common in Poland (4%). Risks were also comparatively high in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Catalonia, and England and Wales (about 2%). As previous sweeps have found, risks were lowest outside Europe: in Japan, Canada, and the USA.
Contact crime
* An overall measure of contact crime was taken as robbery, assaults with force, and sexual assaults (against women only). The highest risks were in Australia, England and Wales, Canada, Scotland and Finland: over 3% were victims. This was more than double the level in USA, Belgium, Catalonia, Portugal, and Japan (all under 2%). In Japan the risk of contact crime was especially low (0.4%).
Robbery
* Robbery was comparatively uncommon in all countries. Risks were highest in 1999 in Poland (1.8%), England and Wales, and Australia (both 1.2%). By far the lowest risks were in Japan and Northern Ireland (0.1%).
* On average, just over a third of victims of robbery said the offender(s) carried a weapon of some sort - in most cases a knife. There was a higher than average use of weapons in the USA, Catalonia, Scotland, and Portugal. Although not very statistically robust, the data indicate that guns were used relatively more often in Catalonia and the USA.
Sexual incidents
* Two types of sexual incidents were measured: offensive sexual behaviour and sexual assault (i.e. incidents described as rape, attempted rape or indecent assaults). For all countries combined, just over one per cent of women reported offensive sexual behaviour. The level was half that for sexual assaults.
* Women in Sweden, Finland, Australia and England and Wales were most at risk of sexual assault. Women in Japan, Northern Ireland, Poland and Portugal were least at risk. Many of the differences in sexual assault risks across country were small. Generally, the relative level of sexual assault in different countries accorded with relative levels of offensive sexual behaviour - though there were a few differences.
* Women know the offender(s) in about half of the all sexual incidents: in a third they were known by name, and in about a sixth by sight. (More assaults involved offenders known by name than did incidents of offensive sexual behaviour.) Most sexual incidents involved only one offender. Weapons were very rarely involved.
Assaults and threats
* Taking all countries together, 3.5% were victims once or more of assaults or threats in 1999. Risks were highest in Australia, Scotland, England and Wales (about 6%) and Canada (5%). Risks were lowest in Japan, Portugal, (under 1%) and Catalonia (1.5%).
* Offenders were known in about half the incidents overall. Men were less likely to know offenders than women. Weapons (especially knifes) were said to have been used (if only as a threat) in just under a quarter of incidents.
Country profiles of crime
* Taking all countries together, car vandalism forms a full quarter of crimes experienced by ICVS respondents. Car vandalism - together with thefts of and from cars - means that over 40% of ICVS crimes involve cars.
* Contact crimes comprise about a quarter of the crimes measured, most of them assault and threats. Motorcycle and bicycle theft, burglaries, and thefts of personal property each contributed just over 10% overall. The largest difference between countries was with regard to the bicycle theft 'share', reflecting varying ownership rates.
* The make-up of crime differs across country. Catalonia and Portugal stand out against the norm in having a crime problem dominated by incidents involving cars: rather more than 60% of all the crimes counted. Japan was also unusual in that 40% of the crime counted by the ICVS involved thefts of two-wheelers. The distinctive feature of Finland was the unusually high share of all crime that sexual incidents accounted for (over a quarter).
Crime seriousness
* Victims were asked to assess the seriousness of what happened. Mean seriousness scores were computed for different offence types. Car thefts where the car was not recovered were viewed most seriously. Next most serious were sexual assaults, then car thefts even if the car was recovered, and robbery involving a weapon. Assaults with force were scored much on a par with burglaries with entry. The least serious crimes were car vandalism, theft from cars, and bicycle theft. Results in previous ICVS sweeps were similar.
* Overall mean score did not differ much by country. This suggests that people in different countries have similar attitudinal thresholds about the seriousness of different crimes. It also suggests people do not differ very greatly in the types of incidents they tell interviewers about. The ranking of offences in seriousness terms were also very similar, again indicating a high degree of consensus about the import of conventional crimes.
* We corrected the victimisation rates for crime seriousness to see how countries fared on a crime count taking seriousness into account. It did not greatly alter the 'burden of crime' picture from other measures. Australia, England and Wales, the Netherlands and Sweden still remain most pressured by crime. However, Denmark and Canada fall back in the relative order when seriousness is taken into account, while the USA and Northern Ireland go higher up the list.
I could keep going on and on, but I believe the numbers speak for themselves.
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