Violent crime in 15-year decline: report

[Posteritatis]

Violent crime has steadily declined in Canada over 15 years, says a new report.

A report entitled Canada's Vital Signs 2009 from the Community Foundations of Canada says there was an average of 932 incidents of violent crime per population of 100,000 in 2008.

The report's figures show a 12 per cent overall decline in crime since 1991.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/10/06/vital-signs-violent-crime-community-report380.html

I usually avoid reading CBC comments, because good goddamn they're stupidly rightwing, but the contortions people are going through to substitute reality with their own opinions in this one are funny. My personal favorite comment basically said "I don't care that the crime rate's going down, because the fact is there's more crime!"

[Darth_Kitten]

1. Come to Winnipeg.....

the crime is getting ridiculous.....gangs, babies being smashed into sidewalks, people being set on fire, etc...

I really would like to live someplace else, at least for a while. But, alas, my job is here.

[Posteritatis]

2. Nope, it isn't

Crime rate's down even in Winnipeg, but high profile incidents making major headlines convince people that it's not. What you're seeing are a few individual crimes in short succession that are spectacular enough to grab the news for awhile, and most people will see those and take them as evidence that there's more crime regardless fo whether there is - like you just did.

I'm in one of the most violent Canadian cities right now, but I feel perfectly safe in most of the town. The populace is absolutely terrified, though, both because the media's been pouring more energy than usual into covering certain cases and because the previous government was spinning the crime angle for votes. Even as ugly as things get around here, this city's getting better, and the fact that someone was shot across the street from me doesn't change that at all.