Crime in Italy

Roberto,

Thanks for sharing this valuable information!

Roberto, is there anything in the article (or in your knowledge, or even a witty guess) that suggests the reasons for the decrease?

What is the time frame for the analysis? Decreases over.... prior year, five years, etc? I bet pick pocketing is vastly underreported and it's hard to know what the true number is. If it happened to me, I wouldn't bother going to the police because I know it would be a waste of time. I think most tourists tend to focus on pick pocketing as opposed to other crime.

Roberto, James E, Unclegus. I have received a private message from someone called Michael Scarpetti (michaelcurtis1047)who has asked me for help. I have not opened this private message as I do not know him nor does it refer to any city or country in Europe. Also it has come into the message box in dark type. I cannot delete this. Do you know how to get rid of this or do recognize the name? I have deleted the message from my inbox.

The % of people that bothers to report stays the same. The trend is true (crime is decreasing), the absolute figures are not.

I can see a few reasons:

• aging population,
• no ghettos/gangs (except for Naples' outskirts and Milan's former red belt),
• improved gun control thanks to anti-terrorism laws,
• young and petty criminals spend less and less time in prison.

No ghettos and no gangs was the result of good primary and secondary schools. Teachers expected kids to learn difficult things, but they had money for after school supporting; unfortunately that system does not exist anymore, but we'll realize it only in 10/15 years.

I have received a private message from someone called Michael
Scarpetti (michaelcurtis1047)who has asked me for help.

Shelley, please see this thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/private-messages-alert

Just ignore it. He has been reported, and the RS mods will be deleting him and all of his messages.

I am guessing that crimes associated with violating ZTLs are up, but are not included. :)

Thanks Kathy - read all the other people who have received this message that it has been reported. I went back into my PM and it has already been deleted.

The 1st table (CLASSIFICA PROVINCIALE DELLE DENUNCE OGNI 100MILA ABITANTI REGISTRATE NEL 2016) shows the total reported crime (all types) per 100,000 people by province the red bars show the stats by province (the province of Milan has the most crime per capita), the blue/orange bar graphs on the far right show the variance in 2016 over 2015. If the bar is blue, it decreased, if orange, it increased for that province.

The 2nd table (CLASSIFICHE PROVINCIALI PER TIPOLOGIA DI REATO-denunce ogni 100mila abitanti, nel 2016) shows the stats by province per TYPE of crime. in the "Seleziona il reato" (Select the crime) field, use the drop down menu to choose the type of crime you want to see:
FURTI (theft)
ASSOCIAZIONE DI TIPO MAFIOSO (mafia association)
ASSOCIAZIONE PER DELINQUERE (crime association)
ESTORSIONI (extorsions)
OMICIDI VOLONTARI, TENTATI OMICIDI, INFANTICIDI (murders, attempted murders, infanticides)
RAPINE (robberies)
RICICLAGGIO (money laundering)
TRUFFE E FRODI INFORMATICHE (internet fraud and scams)
USURA (usury)

The 3rd table (CLASSIFICHE PER TIPOLOGIA DI FURTO E IL CONFRONTO TRA PROVINCE) shows data for theft by type of theft:
FURTO CON DESTREZZA (theft with skill, pickpockets would fall in this category)
FURTO DI AUTOVETTURE (auto theft)
FURTO IN ABITAZIONI (home burglaries)
FURTO IN ESERCIZI COMMERCIALI (commercial burglaries)
SCIPPO (purse snatching, often done with a motorcycle)

reasons for the decrease

The article doesn't report it. I would guess:
1. Technology (lots of anti-theft technology, from home and car alarms to surveillance cameras to locked cell phones) makes life harder and harder for criminals. This includes the increased use of technology to make payments (debit/credit cards, phones, internet, instead of hard cash).
2. Increased and improved policing. Because of the terror threat, there is a whole lot more police around.
3. Stricter gun controls.
4. Aging of population.

Note that no. 1 caused a decrease in a lot of property crimes, but at the same time caused a surge in the internet fraud. I guess thieves (especially Italian thieves) have moved on to where the money is nowadays (cyberspace) rather than people's pockets, which are now full of just plastic. The old style unsophisticated theft, like pick pocketing and purse snatching, is now pretty much relegated to the immigrants (over 2/3 of it is committed by foreign immigrants, and about 90% of it, in big cities), while the Italians commit most of the more lucrative crimes which require more resources (internet fraud, bank robberies, organized crime, human trafficking etc.). Even in this case, immigrants tend to do the jobs that the locals are not willing to do anymore.

Just to chime in. I just returned to the states from Italy last night. And I have to say, I did not feel unsafe once while I was in Italy. The only time I felt unsafe was when I returned to the States, at my local train station waiting for a cab. Disclaimer: I frequent traveller to NYC. You just have to constantly be aware of your surroundings.