Why does London riot so hard?

Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it has been revealed.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.

Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, found himself in trouble after the BBC reported that Tories had sent out leaflets in constituencies giving what police called an "extremely misleading" impression of rising violent crime. A leaflet produced by the office of Mark Lancaster, MP for Milton Keynes North East, claimed that violent attacks had increased in the constituency by 236%, from 1,790 to 6,015 a year, since 1999.

Nikki Ross, the local police commander, told the Milton Keynes Citizen that the claim was "extremely misleading" because "everything from public order offences to harassment to allowing a dog to be out of control in a public place" was classed as violent crime. "The actual number of people who were victims of serious violence was 81," Superintendant Ross said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/03/ukcrime-police

New figures released today have thrown an incendiary into the election debate on violent crime.

Analysis of hospital data for England and Wales, by academics at Cardiff University <191KB PDF>, shows there were 64,000 fewer violence-related attendances in emergency departments last year than in 2001 - a fall of just over 15%.

This contrasts with Conservative claims that violent crime has increased by 44% since 2002. It also appears to contradict Liberal Democrat analysis that hospital admissions for assault are rising.

The figures from the Cardiff study neatly track the downward trend in violence identified by the British Crime Survey (BCS), adding new weight to the argument that, for most people, England and Wales are less violent places than they were a decade ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2010/04/violent_crime_falling_says_new.html