But Guerry’s analysis of his national census of criminals suggested otherwise. No matter where you were in France, he found, recognizable patterns appeared in what crimes were committed, how – and by whom. Young people committed more crimes than old, men more than women, poor more than rich. Intriguingly, it soon became clear that these patterns didn’t change over time. Each region had its own set of crime statistics that would barely change year on year. With an almost terrifying exactitude, the numbers of robberies, rapes and murders would repeat themselves from one year to the next.
