The majority of people having enough and making enough to live on, and having actually safety nets and access to affordable Healthcare means you don’t need to commit crimes to survive. As always it’s not perfect and things can always change, but having less wealth inequality really does wonders for a society
Japan has about the same Gini coefficient as Germany and UK. Japan is significantly safer than Germany or the UK. It’s cultural why they are like that. I can leave my wallet in a crowded fast food restaurant in Tokyo and come back several hours later and it will still be there. Try that in Berlin or London and your wallet is gone the moment you turn around. Sure the lower inequality explains why Japan is not as dangerous as South Africa. But that it’s safer than economically comparable nations all comes down to their culture and social upbringing.
Crime prevention does indeed start with social programs. But it doesn’t end there. I’m all for defunding the police and I do agree that in the US police is really out of hand, but let’s not be naive here. Social programs aren’t going to address organized crime, or crimes of passion, crimes of immaturity (tenagers are both immature hormone soups and capable of causing harm) or political extremism. Antisocial behaviours can appear even in the socialistest of the welfarest of the welfare states.
Not to mention that cops have at the very least also the role of maintaining order, which is different from preventing crime. Think traffic cops, or rowdy crowd marshalling, or stopping disorderly conduct in public, or (extreme example) breaking up the mob that wants to lynch the alleged pedophile, to make sure he gets due process.
Honestly, culture is only part of the reason.
The majority of people having enough and making enough to live on, and having actually safety nets and access to affordable Healthcare means you don’t need to commit crimes to survive. As always it’s not perfect and things can always change, but having less wealth inequality really does wonders for a society
Japan has about the same Gini coefficient as Germany and UK. Japan is significantly safer than Germany or the UK. It’s cultural why they are like that. I can leave my wallet in a crowded fast food restaurant in Tokyo and come back several hours later and it will still be there. Try that in Berlin or London and your wallet is gone the moment you turn around. Sure the lower inequality explains why Japan is not as dangerous as South Africa. But that it’s safer than economically comparable nations all comes down to their culture and social upbringing.
For sure! But people don’t only commit crimes to survive.
When people’s needs are met, they tend to not do illegal things.
Here’s what I wrote above: