Is Scotland a violent country??

[Earlybird]

From the Times Online:

A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America.
England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest.

The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults.

Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.

The attacks have been fuelled by a ?booze and blades? culture in the west of Scotland which has claimed more than 160 lives over the past five years. Since January there have been 13 murders, 145 attempted murders and 1,100 serious assaults involving knives in the west of Scotland. The problem is made worse by sectarian violence, with hospitals reporting higher admissions following Old Firm matches.

Read the rest here:

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1786945,00.html

Can this be right? Do those of you who live in Scotland feel anxious about violent crime?

Crime is rife in Edinburgh - much worse than Glasgow!

FGS have you not read Ian Rankin

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Yup I am in Edinburgh and he did used to teach in JGHS. He never taught me but he did teach my sister, in fact she saw him not long before the murder. He came into a pub she worked at.

However that is a fairly rare occurrence in these parts, as far as I know!

weesadie,

I worked in a bank in Princes Street, Edinburgh in the early '80s and we were robbed at gunpoint twice within a month (we think it was the same gang as they made the same spelling mistake in their hold-up note ) and a couple of years later, my sil who worked in a Building Society in central Edinburgh was held up by an armed robber.
Still don't think Scotland's that violent though

Queenofquotes - phew!!! No need for a pagger then (Scottish word for violent incident ). TBH I'm a bit disappointed - he was a bit of an arse and the snogging stranger did me a favour

That murder in Merchiston, though, you gotta wonder about that poor fella. He'd been imprisoned for child molestation and had met some pretty unsavoury characters whilst in the clink, whom he continued to consort with after his release.

Not saying he deserved such an end, poor soul, but man, he sure didn't exercise good judgement when it came to selecting friends.

lol soapbox. Love Ian Rankin... he was quoted in the newspaper after my teacher was murdered as he lives in Merchiston and was at the crime scene!

I was pretty drunk, but I seem to recall I met him in the graveyard (not sure what I was doing there in the first place.....on my way back to school in the West End I guess LOL).

Also, I worked as a police officer in Edinburgh (including at St Leonards where Inspector Rebus worked from) from 1994 - 2000 and I was very surprised at how little 'real' crime there was.

Ian Rankin ROX!

I'll bet, tabitha, as opposed to young ladies getting held up at gunpoint at the mailboxes in their posh apartment complexes.

Man, I was never so glad to leave the US. Talk about violent!

expat, no he certainly did not! I always wonder if one of the guys he was at my sister's pub with was the murderer....

tabitha - wow! I just haven't ever experienced anything like that myself... thank god.

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Yes, I really cannot believe that Scotland is more violent than US... I mean I don't want to judge having never lived there (only visited and never attacked!) but it does have a far worse reputation.

To be honest, I worked 'behind the scenes' in the bank, carrying out high-level tasks like filing and making tea so I didn't realise anything had happened till it was all over.
My poor sil was quite traumatised for a while though.

That's right Aimsmum, you stay over there where it is safe ...

Relax, Aims, I was robbed at gunpoint in the US. Big surprise there. In one incident, I never saw the perpetrator's face. He just told me to give him my handbag and left.

It does make you value life a lot more, though.

I saw Ian Rankin last week coming out of our local newsagent. Actually, I suppose it's his too, so not that surprising.

It's a shame about that Alan Wilson fella over in Merchiston, eh, weesadie?

I have one of his books even! He wrote some good Edinburgh history stuff.

I love the way that the 'real baddies' in Ian Rankin's books always come from Glasgow-stereotypes - pah!!!!!

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He's really down-to-Earth, tamum. I saw him walking round the Old College once. Wonder if he's gonna set a book there!?

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Oh, I heard he wrote books!! I went on one of his companys tours round the Royal Mile. Funnily enough they talked about Deacon Brodie... kind of ironic really.

TBH, when it happens - and it's happened to me TWICE - it's so shocking you don't really think, 'Holy s&*t! That fella could've killed me for my damn bag!' That comes later.