http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3619149a10,00.html
"New Zealanders are more likely to be victims of crime than Americans, an international report has found. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its annual report on member countries, found Australians were more likely than people of any other developed nation to be victimised. New Zealand had the second highest number of victims, ahead of the United States, which recorded a fall in reported crime rates.
Large increases in crime were noted in England and Wales and Japan.
The figures showed that between 1990 and the latest available figures, Australia had the highest proportion of victims of assaults, threats and crimes of a sexual nature of the OECD's member nations, the second highest proportion of burglaries, and high rates of robberies, car thefts and thefts from cars. The incidence of sexual crimes was highest in Australia, Austria and the Netherlands.
Australia, England and Wales and the Netherlands had the highest proportion (more than 25 per cent) of respondents that reported having been victims of crime over the preceding 12 months.
The report noted that its figures relied on reported crime data: assault and sexual offences were heavily under-reported. The high crime rate was in large part due to vehicle-related crimes. People were fearful of contact crime. Over 6 per cent of the population experienced assaults and threats in Australia and Great Britain. " [Snippet]
