Crime in Canada

I was a little surprised by this report I found on the crime rate in Canada. I had pretty much figured that Canada was overall lower crime than the United States. I asked the Magistra Scientia (formerly the Microbiologist-in-Residence) her best guess as to relative crime rates between the US and Canada. She guessed Canada saw half as much crime. Turns out it is actually double.

US Crime Rate 1960 - 2005

Canada Crime Rate 1962 - 2006From these graphs you can see a very similar trend in crime in both nations, but in 2005 the total crime rate in Canada was 8,000 crimes per 100,000 residents, versus 4,000 crimes per 100,000 residents in the U.S. Violent crime looks similar, but it is hard to see exactly where the Canadian graph falls due to the lack of tick marks.

This is very good marketing on Canada's part.

Sources:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/070718/dq070718b-eng.htm

http://www.p360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=237

h/t Kathy Shaidle