Following a brief introduction to some basic theoretical assumptions, the author presents judicial, police, and medical statistics related to violent crime. The first conclusion reached is that, from the middle of the 19th Century until the 1970's, the magnitude of violent crime in the Netherlands has remained stable, and the number of violent assaults has even decreased. Closer examination of some of these statistics reveals that Dutch society is hypersensitive to violent crime, perhaps because of the relatively limited impact made by other social problems. Nevertheless, as businesses and bank have enhanced their physical security system, and homes are becoming more difficult to break into, there has been a relocation of crime to neighborhoods and people less equipped to protect themselves via expensive crime prevention devices. 7 tables, 2 figures, 62 notes, and 53 references