Lana

I am disgusted with the city I live in in the US there are so many gang related crimes. In Western Europe are there youth gangs who terrorize normal citizens? I would love to find a place where I could walk at night and feel safe. <BR>Tell me if it exists and I will go there for a vacation, I am leaning towards Italy and France and the UK.

xxx

Vatican City has more crime PER PERSON than any other city in the world. I.E. pickpocketing etc, not violent crime. There's crime everywhere but in Europe you're less likely to be fatally harmed.

uncle sam

I just read an article where the Brits are seing more and more crimes committed with guns. This despite tough anti gun laws.<BR><BR>I suspect no one is immune but i do believe that mosyt crime involving tourists in europe will be petty theft and pickpocketing!<BR><BR>US

yostwl

The rates of muggings, robberies, burglaries, and home invasions are now higher in western european cities than in the US. Violent crime in the USA is half what it was 10 years ago while it has steadily increased in Europe--murder rates are still much lower in Europe than in American inner cities.

bill

Should have noted that Switzerland is one notable exception to this trend.

paul

safety is often a perception. you tend to feel safe surrounded by people out having a good time and nervous in a dark street at midnight. In major european cities, especially Spain and Italy, you will find lots of people out on the streets until at least 9 pm and this includes families. go in the spring when days get longer but the summer heat is not evident and you will enjoy Rome, Madrid, Barcelona and Paris. bon voyage.

AR

It is true. The UK is becoming pretty dangerous in certain places with no-go areas. The Government are to introduce automatic 5 year prison sentences for anyone found with an illegal gun or even replica. The biggest problem in the UK is that the police have concentrated on the easiest target - motorists. Speed cameras have been erected everywhere and you can be fined &pound;60 for travelling at, say, 35mph in a 30mph zone at 3am on a well lit road with nobody else around. Yet, report a robbery and the police dont want to know. Also, steal a car and kill someone and you may get 2 years in jail. Sorry, I'm getting angry now!

Michael

Watch Bowling for Columbine for the real story.

xxx

<BR><BR>A lot of gang crimes are related to drugs.<BR><BR>And I am disgusted with the fact that the U.S. government is so incredibly dense to ignore the lesson of Prohibition: that outlawing something people crave--whether alcohol or other drugs--doesn't stop them from obtaining it. Instead, all it does it create a thriving black market with a LOT of related crime. <BR><BR>

Nick

Was looking recently at murder rates per capita for European Union capital cities (2000 data)- so the extreme side of things, and cities that were high up ( but still alot lower than US cities) were Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Berlin (?) - perhaps not the most obvious for most people - London a fair bit lower. Vienna where I live now was very low. Some here say it has the lowest crime of any capital city in Europe. May be the case, although it helps that incredibly open drug dealing in the main city park appears to be totally ignored - no crime statistic if no arrest. But other than there I have never felt at risk and you do not get the drunken yobbo behaviour very often at all -something that unfortunately increasingly plagues most of the UK.

Sjoerd

It's time to bring out the dead. The US State Department now publishes a quarterly report on the death of visitors to other countries. Europe is the one of the safest places to visit. 27 Died in Europe this quarter. 3 were homicides(2 seperate events in Germany and 1 in that Moscow theatre that was taken over by terrorists). 5 suicides. Some of the accidents involved people participating in extreme sport activities and many of the accidents involved drug or alcohol impairment. 27 deaths for an estimated 11 million visitors represents a very low death rate. It's safer to be on vacation in Europe than it is to live in the US.<BR>U.S. Citizen Deaths from non-natural causes, by foreign country.<BR>Reporting period: October 01, 2002 to December 13, <BR>FRANCE <BR>Date of Death Place of Death Cause of Death <BR>November 06, 2002 NANCY, FRANCE Train Accident <BR>November 06, 2002 NANCY, FRANCE Train Accident <BR>November 06, 2002 NANCY, FRANCE Train Accident <BR>November 06, 2002 NANCY, FRANCE Train Accident <BR>November 06, 2002 NANCY, FRANCE Train Accident <BR>GERMANY <BR>October 13, 2002 WALDGEBIET UNTERMEMBACH, HESSDORF, GERMANY Suicide <BR>October 15, 2002 BERLIN LICHTENRADE Homicide <BR>October 24, 2002 BOEBLINGEN Other Accident <BR>November 09, 2002 HIGHWAY BISFELD Auto Accident <BR>November 24, 2002 CAMPINGPLATZ WALDSEE, ROTH, BAVARIA, GERMANY Homicide <BR>GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND <BR>November 01, 2002 HARPENDEN RAILWAY STATION, HARPENDEN, HERTS, ENGLAND Suicide <BR>HUNGARY <BR>October 18, 2002 TRAUMATOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY Other Accident <BR>ICELAND <BR>October 22, 2002 LANDSPITALI UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, FOSSVOGUR, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND Suicide <BR>IRELAND <BR>October 21, 2002 NAAS CO. HOSPITAL, NAAS, CO. KILDARE, IRELAND Veh. Accid.-Auto <BR>ITALY <BR>November 04, 2002 'STRADA PROVINCIALE 99', KM. 1.3, TORTONA, ALESSANDRIA, ITALY Veh. Accid.-Auto <BR>November 13, 2002 VENICE, ITALY Other Accident <BR>November 30, 2002 CASTIGLIONE DEL LAGO - PERUGIA Suicide <BR>NETHERLANDS <BR>October 18, 2002 AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS Suicide <BR>October 20, 2002 MAARN, NETHERLANDS Other Accident <BR>October 31, 2002 HOTEL BEN, BEURSSTRAAT,AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS Other Accident <BR>November 05, 2002 AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS Drug-Related <BR>November 06, 2002 HOTEL AMERICAN, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS Drug-Related <BR>ROMANIA <BR>October 08, 2002 PIETROASELE, ROMANIA Veh. Accid.-Auto <BR>RUSSIA <BR>October 26, 2002 MOSCOW, RUSSIA Terrorist Action <BR>SPAIN <BR>October 02, 2002 DEL BIERZO HOSPITAL, PONFERRADA, LEON, SPAIN Natural Disaster <BR>October 24, 2002 OTERO DE REY, LUGO, SPAIN. Natural Disaster <BR>UKRAINE <BR>November 11, 2002 LVIV CENTRAL EMERGENCY HOSPITAL Veh. Accid.-Auto <BR><BR>Full data on:<BR>http://travel.state.gov/dsr.html<BR><BR>

Paige

Southern Germany and Switzerland seem really safe to me. I've lived in Munich for over 4 years and (knock on wood) I feel extremely safe here, any time, day or night.

Get Real

There are PLENTY of places in the US where gang related crimes do not occur and were citizens are not &quot;terrorized&quot; on a daily basis. <BR><BR>If you live in an economically depressed area, chances are that your crime rate is significantly higher than in a typical middle class neighborhood, that is true. But, cities in Western Europe have these areas as well. <BR><BR>I'm curious, where do you live?<BR><BR>

Lana

I live adjacent to a crime-ridden area in Los Angeles.