THE ROOTS OF DANGER (Pages 21-25)

Topics: Risks of violence and International Comparisons

Author: Elliott Currie

Year: 2016

On pages twenty-one to twenty-five, Elliot Currie juxtaposes various countries and cities to determine their respective risks of violence. He focuses on the countries’ wealth and development, size, and gender as important influencers of violent crime. Currie first observes that, compared to the advanced and affluent societies, poor or middling income states are at the highest risk of deadly violence. He further notes that more persons die of homicide in nations with a bigger population than in countries with a smaller population.

Homicide death rate, which is the number of people who die per 100,000 overall population, is an effective strategy that facilitates a comparison of the probability of violent crime across nations of various sizes. Among the countries that exhibit high homicide death rates are those from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa. For instance, in 2012, Honduras had a homicide death rate of 91 per 100,000. On the contrary, most of the European and Asian countries have relatively low homicide death rates of below 1 per 100,000. Such countries include Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands, and others. From the statistics, it is evident that states with low homicide death rates have little risk of violent death.

On page twenty-two, Currie points out a peculiarity with the United States. Although it is among the highly developed countries in the world, the United States stands out among other affluent states as having the highest homicide rate of 5 in 100,000. This significant rate means that one’s probability of dying by violent crime while in the United States is about four and more than ten times those living in other affluent nations of the world.Surprisingly, the United States homicide rate is even higher than that of some developing countries’ and the same as that of some of the poorest counties of Eastern Europe. Elliot Currie believes that if the United States reduced its homicide rate to 1 per 100,000, about 12,000 lives would be saved annually.

Latin American cities top as the cities with the highest risk of violence. For instance Caracas, Venezuela has a homicide rate of 122 per 100,000. Cities from Europe, on the other hand, show relatively low homicide rates of between 1 to 2 per 100,000. The disparities in the homicide rates between Latin American cities and European cities are significant: a person living in Caracas has a likelihood of being murdered of over 300 times than his counterpart in Tokyo. Although Currie admits that a lot has been done to reduce the homicide rate in New York, he says that the city still ranks behind several significant towns in the developed industrial world.

On page twenty-five, Elliot Currie looks at the significance of gender on the risk of violence. He starts by stating that men are the most victims of violent crime in most communities. In countries with minimal incidences of violence, men and women face almost the same risks from deadly force. Conversely, in high-violence societies, homicide is more affiliated with men. In the United States, however, we witness violence peculiarities where a woman’s risk of murder is uniquely high compared to other women across the world and has three times the homicide risk of a male resident of Germany or Singapore and almost six times the homicide risk of a man residing in Japan.

In conclusion, pages 21-25 of the book “The Roots of Danger” focus on the risks of violence and international comparisons. Elliot Currie explains various determinants of the threats of violence by the use statistics presented in figures. Factors such as industrial development, population, and gender influence the risk of violent crime. The United States stands out as a nation with a peculiarity in violent crime.

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