MicroBalrog
member
My letter to schoolbook editor:
and
their reply
Dear Sir!
I am a student in Tabeetha School, Jaffa, Israel ( http://tabeetha.htmlplanet.com )
As a part of my A-level curriculum, I study your book, "Au Point". In that book, in chapter 14, article "La Violence en hausse ou en baisse?" (p.179)
the following statement is made (translated from French by me:
"Murder: a phenomenon more American than European?
The only 'comfort' for France and Europe might be the murder rate in the United States.
In Los-Angeles alone, there is an amount of murders corresponding to about half the murders
in France. It should not be doubted (!) that the free distribution of arms in the American
citizenry contributes to the situation. "
After that, there is an exercise called "Statistiques", asking the student to identify four true statements. One of the true statements is:
"The high rate of murders in the United States is obviously (!) due to the free trade in firearms"
In the book, therefore, the statement is made that
a)The murder rate in the United States is higher than in any other European country
b)High murder rates in the United States are such due to the availability of firearms.
However, I would like to point out several statistical mistakes made in your book in regards to that statement.
a)The murder rate in Los-Angeles, California is very high, compared to most other areas of the United States. Also, the sale, posession, and carry of
firearms in the state of California is heavily regulated, so the murder rate of California (or L.A.) cannot serve as an example of the consequences of
the free distribution of firearms.
b)Many American states (e.g. Vermont) have miniscule murder rates, much lower than that of France.
c)Finally, the most important mistake lies in that that America does not, in fact, have a higher murder rate than any European Country.
For example, here are the murder rates of some areas of Europe which are higher than the U.S. (reported, as is the custom, in murders per "100,000 of population"), as reported by the Interpol website (numbers for 2001):
USA: 5.61
Belgium: 5.97
Luxembourg: 11.34 (It should be interesting for you to know that the highest murder rate the USA ever experience was 10.8)
Sweden: 10.01
Scotland: 15.38
The murder rate for France is 3.91, if you're interested.
It should be also interesting to point out that those U.S. states which liberalised the rules for possession or carrying of weapons in the 10-20 years have actually seen crime fall while it was rising in other states (like Florida) or fall faster then in states which haven't done so. In fact, the murder rate, on average, is 86% higher in states which have liberalised the laws pertaining to the carrying of weapons (Cramer C and Kopel D. Shall issue: the new wave of concealed handgun permit laws. Golden CO: Independence Institute Issue Paper. October 17, 1994.)
While the information above does not necessarily prove that the free distribution and carry of firearms reduces crime, it absolutely disproves both claims A and B in your book. Obviously, the murder rate in the U.S. is NOT "higher than in any other European country", and it should be pretty obvious that the free possession of arms by the civilian population is not a contributing factor to high murder rates (or, at least, that if a connection does exist, it is nowhere near "obvious").
I hope that when the next edition comes about, the statement will be corrected.
Sincerely yours,
****, ****
Bat-Yam, Israel
and
their reply
Dear Boris,
Thank you very much for your email regarding pg. 179 of 'Au Point Nouvelle
Edition'. I'm sorry you feel that the information in the exercise 'La
violence en hausse ou en basse' is inaccurate.
The book was first published in 1994, and we would have ensured that all
information at the time of going to press was correct. The majority of the
statistics in 'Au Point' came from a respected French source, a book called
'Francoscopie' which is published by Larousse. It is published every two
years and gives in depth analysis of statistics and changes in France.
However, as you indicated in your email, the situation may indeed have
changed over the past nine years, and that final statement may no longer be
accurate. The advantage of 'Au Point' is that it asks students to examine
real source material in a critical way, the disadvantage is that real
source material can go out of date very quickly. The next time the book is
re-editioned, I will ensure that this passage is checked.
'Au Point' was written with the French A-level exam in mind. The A-level
is an exam which actively encourages students to challenge what they read
and to justify their own views fully. On page 180, an exercise linked to
'La violence en hausse ou en baisse' asks students to question the analysis
of statistics so I shouldn't think many students will be misled by the
passage you refer to in the meantime.
Thank you very much again for email. I hope you enjoy the rest of the
book.
Yours sincerely,
