Crime rises five-fold over 30 years

Crime saw a 5.2-fold increase in the period between 1970 and 1999, according to a white paper on crime issued Wednesday by the Legal Research and Training Institute under the Ministry of Justice. The number of crimes per 100,000 people also more than tripled in the same period. As a proportion of all crimes committed between 1989 and 1999, crimes by women doubled. Property-related crimes and juvenile offenses showed a sharp increase and the educational backgrounds of criminals were improving, according to the white paper.

There were 333,537 crimes in 1970, a figure that rose 5.2-fold to 1,732,522 in 1999. Of them, felonies like murder, arson, robbery and rape grew by a factor of 4.6 from 3,430 in 1970 to 15,633 in 1999. Crimes per 100,000 people rose 3.6-fold from 1,035 in 1970 to 3,697 in 1999, the white paper said.

Lee Myoung-Gun gun43@donga.com