> >I've done some research on the web which has
> convinced me that the
> greater a
> >population of a city is, the greater the violent
> crime rate is
> >(crimes/100000/year).  I see this also as a
> paleolithic maladaptation -
> we are
> >poorly adapted to being crowded.  Any ideas?

Back in the seventies there was a study of rat
populations that suggested a "critical mass" for
population. Under the critical mass point there was
peaceful coexistence. As soon as the critical mass was
attained, the rate of violent acts started to rise at
an almost exponential rate.

I live in a community of approximately 150,000 people
with an extremely low violent crime rate. Most of the
crimes that do occur in our area are of the
non-violent variety. In fact, our first murder of 1999
occurred just a few weeks ago.
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