Scandinavian countries are for the most part ethnically homogeneous with a monarchy and a state religion, all things that improve social cohesion. (The one Scandinavian country that became markedly less ethnically homogeneous recently is struggling with an unprecedented rise in violent crime.) America is just about the polar opposite of that, and recently so much more so -- now it's considered racist to ask an immigrant to assimilate themselves to the mainstream culture, for example.
And there are legal systems that go the other way to achieve the same result of low rates of crime and reoffense; countries like Saudi Arabia or the UAE treat criminals extremely harshly and have some of the lowest crime rates in the world. Singapore puts drug traffickers to death and have opiate abuse rates of 30 per 100k vs. 600 in the US.
America, for better or for worse, is a vast land with a diverse population and constitutionally guaranteed personal liberties; that is to say, it's set up in such a way that deterrence is a big part of the justice system. In less diverse countries with more social cohesion, a big chunk of that deterrence comes from social pressure of people around you, who look like you and with whom you share a common cultural heritage. In America, where the people around you have little say in your behavior (and increasingly less so), it's a part of the justice system's job to be menacing.
> let's throw away our theses and just accept what the data tells us
What the data tells about Scandinavia is not likely to work in America for the reasons above. And let me ask you a question: a third of all shoplifting arrests in NYC, a city of 8.5 million people, were from just 327 people, who were collectively arrested over 6000 times[0]. How will you rehabilitate those 327 people, given that you don't have unlimited resources and you have a duty to keep them from harming other innocent, law-abiding people? Saudi Arabia would probably cut their hands off and be done with it. Norway might commit them to a lengthy term at a psychiatric facility on the taxpayer's dime. Neither is an option in the US.
Do you have any proof that the "ethnic homogeneity" is the cause of the difference? It's paraded around for any issue where America is worse off than other countries, but it's always just put out as a statement of fact. Do you have any shred of evidence? Any studies?
If you don't, please take a second to reflect why you're pointing at this specific difference.
If you're looking for "proof" that any one thing is the "cause" of a complex social issue, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. There isn't a great deal of academic literature on the topic, but perhaps two key illustrations:
1. The 1954 "Toward an Understanding of Juvenile Delinquency" by Lander, which showed that the rate of "delinquency" rose for both whites and blacks as the ratio between the two reached 50%, and proportionally fell in areas where either whites or blacks held the majority.
2. The 1982 "Population Heterogeneity and the Sociogenesis of Homicide" by Hansmann and Quigley, which recognizes that though the issue is complex, their findings support the the idea that population heterogeneity is a "significant causal factor in homicide".
And of course, unacademically off the top of your head, it's likely that the lowest-crime places you can think of are generally ethnically homogeneous.
> If you don't, please take a second to reflect why you're pointing at this specific difference.
Hey, I'm not the one who held up Scandinavia (>90% white) as a model. I myself am neither white nor black and immigrated to the US, where I would much rather prefer to live, warts and all, than in Scandinavia.
I'm sure you're aware that research methods in general, but especially in sociology, have improved over the last decades. Do you have any source that is not literally 40 years old? Anything more current?
> Hey, I'm not the one who held up Scandinavia (>90% white) as a model.
> Why does this seemingly work for them?
Scandinavian countries are for the most part ethnically homogeneous with a monarchy and a state religion, all things that improve social cohesion. (The one Scandinavian country that became markedly less ethnically homogeneous recently is struggling with an unprecedented rise in violent crime.) America is just about the polar opposite of that, and recently so much more so -- now it's considered racist to ask an immigrant to assimilate themselves to the mainstream culture, for example.
And there are legal systems that go the other way to achieve the same result of low rates of crime and reoffense; countries like Saudi Arabia or the UAE treat criminals extremely harshly and have some of the lowest crime rates in the world. Singapore puts drug traffickers to death and have opiate abuse rates of 30 per 100k vs. 600 in the US.
America, for better or for worse, is a vast land with a diverse population and constitutionally guaranteed personal liberties; that is to say, it's set up in such a way that deterrence is a big part of the justice system. In less diverse countries with more social cohesion, a big chunk of that deterrence comes from social pressure of people around you, who look like you and with whom you share a common cultural heritage. In America, where the people around you have little say in your behavior (and increasingly less so), it's a part of the justice system's job to be menacing.
> let's throw away our theses and just accept what the data tells us
What the data tells about Scandinavia is not likely to work in America for the reasons above. And let me ask you a question: a third of all shoplifting arrests in NYC, a city of 8.5 million people, were from just 327 people, who were collectively arrested over 6000 times[0]. How will you rehabilitate those 327 people, given that you don't have unlimited resources and you have a duty to keep them from harming other innocent, law-abiding people? Saudi Arabia would probably cut their hands off and be done with it. Norway might commit them to a lengthy term at a psychiatric facility on the taxpayer's dime. Neither is an option in the US.
[0]: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/15/nyregion/shoplifting-arre...