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"Evolution
of Weaponry"
The
Role of Weapons Evolution in Domestic Violent Crime
Increases
in Worldwide Violent Crime
Thus, instead of murder, we have to assess attempted murder,
aggravated assault, or some other consistently defined attack
as an indicator of violent crime, and the increase in this
indicator is staggering. Between 1957 and 1992 aggravated
assault in the US, according to the FBI, went up from around
60 per 100,000 to over 440 per 100,000. Between 1977 and
1986 the "serious assault" rate, as reported to Interpol:
-
Increased nearly fivefold in Norway and Greece, and the
murder rate more than tripled in Norway and doubled in
Greece
-
In Australia and New Zealand the "serious assault" rate
increased approximately fourfold, and the murder rate
approximately doubled in both nations.
-
During the same period the assault rate tripled in Sweden
and approximately doubled in Belgium, Canada, Denmark,
England-Wales, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Scotland,
and the US; while all these nations (with the exception
of Canada) also had an associated (but smaller) increase
in murder.
All
of these increases in violent crime, in all of these nations,
occurred during a period when medical and law enforcement
technology should have been bringing murder and crime rates
down. It is no accident that this has generally only been
occurring in western, industrialized nations because the
same factor that caused all of these increases is the same
weapons factor that caused a revolution in close combat
(Table III).
TABLE
III:International Violent Crime Rate
| |
Serious Assault
|
Murder
|
| |
1977
|
1993
|
Increase
|
1977
|
1993
|
Increase |
| Australiaº |
21.9
|
81.3
|
+3.7
|
2.8
|
4.5
|
+1.6 |
| Belgium |
65.9
|
125.0
|
+1.9
|
2.2
|
3.1
|
+1.4 |
| Canada¹ |
447.0
|
916.0
|
+2.0
|
3.0
|
2.0
|
----- |
| Denmark |
78.7
|
179.0
|
+2.3
|
2.5
|
4.8
|
+1.9 |
| England-Walesº |
163.0
|
362.0
|
+2.2
|
1.4
|
2.5
|
+1.8 |
| France |
59.8
|
99.0
|
+1.7
|
3.4
|
4.9
|
+1.4 |
| Greece |
14.4
|
68.4
|
+4.8
|
1.2
|
2.5
|
+2.1 |
| Hungary² |
45.1
|
76.9
|
+1.7
|
3.5
|
4.5
|
+2.1 |
| Netherlands³ |
101.1
|
196.0
|
+1.9
|
8.3
|
27.4
|
+1.3 |
| New Zealandº |
83.4
|
313.0
|
+3.8
|
1.8
|
4.0
|
+3.3 |
| Norway |
12.8
|
62.0
|
+4.8
|
.7
|
2.5
|
+2.2 |
| Scotland† |
53.0
|
123.0
|
+2.3
|
8.4
|
11.4
|
+3.6 |
| Sweden |
17.3
|
51.1
|
+3.0
|
4.8
|
8.8
|
+1.8 |
| United States |
241.0
|
440.0
|
+1.8
|
8.8
|
9.5
|
+1.1 |
Note:
All data represents incidents per 100,000 population, as
reported by each nation to Interpol and recorded in Interpol
International Crime Statistics, Vols. 1977 to 1994. (Except
for Canadian data, as stated below in footnote 1). Different
nations use different criteria to define "murder" and "serious
assault," therefore ability to use this data to compare
between nations is limited, but comparisons of increases
within each nation across time is valid. This information
was previously reported in a different format in On Killing,
© 1996, Dave Grossman.
º
Data are only through the following dates when the indicated
nations stopped reporting to Interpol: Australia, 1988;
England-Wales, 1991; India, 1991; New Zealand, 1992.
¹
Canada does not report crime data to Interpol; Canadian
data is from Canadian Center for Justice.
²
Data begins in 1980, when Hungary started reporting to Interpol.
³
Netherlands did not begin reporting serious assault data
to Interpol until 1981, but murder data begins in 1977
†
Scotland's serious assault data begins in 1977, but murder
data begins in 1985 (when they apparently started reporting
murder under a broader definition) and both murder and serious
assault data only run through 1991 when Scotland stopped
reporting to Interpol.
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