I would say that is an anecdote.
Discussion
Is that because you do not know the data?
In the UK there are 69 cities.
There are 45,000 towns and villages.
There are 2,080 police stations.
Which means at least 95% of places do not have any cops.
Next time you’re on holiday in the US rent a bike in some town and leave it unattended and unlocked for a few days. Prove your theory.
America is 4% of the world.
It also has the highest incarceration rate on Earth. Most of the world is not like that.
That’s my point.
Was that your point? If so, I do agree. It’s an insane incarceration rate, and yet crime in America is not exclusive to big cities.
I think America has normalised crime to some extent.
I think it partly stems from the prohibition era, when crime was glamorised and seems to have remained so within many American subcultures.
I think scarcity creates criminals. Extreme scarcity creates violent criminals. There are exceptions, but generally take our food away and we get motivated to get food, even at the personal cost of committing violence against another person. This is true of all animals.