Oh Shangri-la... Or Maybe Not

From NewsMax:

Press reports that Canada is a Shangri-la – an America with free health care and less crime – may be short sighted.

In fact, statistics show that the violent crime rate there is double that of the United States.

...an article by Canada's National Post columnist David Frum where he revealed that "Canada's overall crime rate is now 50 percent higher than the crime rate in the United States.” Moreover, "Since the early 1990s, crime rates have dropped in 48 of the 50 states and 80 percent of American cities. Over that same period, crime rates have risen in six of the 10 Canadian provinces and in seven of Canada’s 10 biggest cities.”

...the most recent complete data available from both countries that shows that in 2003, the violent crime rate in the United States was 475 per 100,000 people; while up north, there were 963 violent crimes per 100,000 people. The figure for sexual assault in Canada per 100,000 people was more than double that of the United States: 74 as opposed to 32.1; and the assault rate in Canada was also more than twice that of the states: 746 to America's 295 for the people.

The article concludes with an interesting parallel occurence. The U.S. crime rate has dropped even as more states passed ‘right-to-carry’ and ‘shall-issue’ handgun laws. The gun laws in Canada have gotten more restrictive, while crimes rose. Very interesting.
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