I just did a quick bit of research and can not confirm your contention
that Holland and Sweden had a higher murder rate than the US. In fact, I
keep finding just the opposite. Here's a sample of what I've found:
Murder rate (per 100,000 people):

United States   8.40
Canada          5.45
Denmark         5.17
Germany         4.20
Norway          1.99
United Kingdom  1.97
Sweden          1.73
Japan           1.20
Finland         0.70

Note that Holland, Ireland, and Scotland don't even make the cut.

Liz

> On Thursday, July 22, 2004, at 09:20 PM, Eva Hedin wrote:

> Sorry if this seems a bit off topic, it ties in later! I was reading
> Interpol data about crime rates in various European countries. I was
> surprised to see the very high murder rates for some places. Holland
> and Sweden for example were both considerably higher than the US.
> Scotland and N. Ireland as well.