I’m thinking getting tough on crime wasn’t one of their platforms. The worst part of the increase in crime in England is that it is abetted by backward Labour Party policies like closing down rural police stations which has helped the once idyllic English countryside become a haven for criminality, with crime rates out pacing the dangerous inner cities:

Crime is rising faster in the countryside than in towns and cities, official figures show.

Since Labour came to power, the 13 counties classified as “rural” have seen the sharpest increases in violent offending and criminal damage.

Violent crime rose by 119 per cent in country areas between 1998/99 and 2006/07 – compared with a national increase of 108 per cent.

Rural criminal damage surged 60 per cent compared with 35 per cent for the country as a whole.

The overall number of offences has also gone up more in shire areas and reached 772,409 in 2006/07 – more than one a minute.

Some of the offenses are penny ante to be sure, but in a country with a high tax burden on property owners, vandalism is more of a drain on people’s income than here in the States. Plus high rates of vandalism do not speak well for the communities’ futures; if these are kids committing crimes that go unpunished what’s to stop them from graduating to more violent crimes?

Since the crime rate in England has gone up 108% in the last decade I guess not much. Here are some statisitcs that’ll put to rest the “America’s more violent” nonsense once and for all:

Offences of violence in Gloucestershire and North Wales have more than trebled – increasing by 235 per cent and 207 per cent respectively.

In Cambridgeshire, the number of drug offences has risen by 80 per cent – almost double the national increase.

The total number of recorded crimes in Dyfed-Powys has shot up by 22.5 per cent, almost four times the national increase of 6.2 per cent.

The article implies that drug offenses are at about a 40% increase from last year, and the majority of the country has had little over 6% increase in crimes of violence, except in the rural areas where violence is up over 200%!

The violent crime rate in America has declined by roughly a third since the 90s. That includes everything from murder, rape and assault to fist fights. The rate of property theft has continued to decline from the mid 90s until now. Hmmm.

In general, what’s the difference between the government of England in that time period and America?

I’ll leave that for discussion, but what should be inescapable is that England’s “Democratic Socialist” style Labour Party has created a crime ridden soon to be third world country out of what was once considered the most civilized nation in the world. Viewing the wishy washy statement on justice from the Labour website one can see where the problem lies.

Democrats are increasingly looking to Europe for policy models they hope will appeal to the hipster electorate they believe will help them consolidate their power. We also have our own Labor movement, even right here in my newly adopted homeland of South Carolina, that calls for a European approach to public policies.

One wonders if any of them actually look at Europe before advocating the disasterous policies that have torn it asunder.