Abstract

In 1973, Marshall B. Clinard decided to find out why, compared to other Western countries, crime in Switzerland was so low. He moved to Switzerland for a year and studied all available data. His findings, published in 1978, explain Switzerland's low crime rate in terms of conditions such as the following: a) there are no big metropolitan areas in Switzerland, so there are no slums or sub-cultures of poverty; b) the federal government is very weak and most of the social programs are based on local community operations, which educates people in self-help and social responsibility; c) most social activities involve both youth and adults, thus preventing the development of a youth sub-culture conducive to crime;