MARK KLEIMAN thinks the U.S. / Swedish crime comparisons make Sweden look worse than it really is.

Well, you can argue about this stuff, and cross-border crime comparisons are always iffy, but I think the sources I linked to look pretty good — and they’re certainly not from sources with a vested interest in boosting the U.S.A.

In an email, Kleiman notes that his analysis doesn’t demonstrate that Sweden is a “light unto the gentiles.” I keep waiting for that demonstration, but what I keep getting are arguments that it’s not as bad, compared to Mississippi, as I said.