The civilizing process never penetrated the South ..."

Interesting viewpoint from a book review in yesterday's Wall Street Journal

This fact raises the interesting question of why America's murder rate, though it has fallen sharply in recent years, is still so much higher than that of England. Mr. Pinker's answer is clear: One must compare the regions of the United States with England. The homicide rate of New England is almost exactly the same as that of England, and in our far-north states, such as the Dakotas and the Pacific Northwest, it is even lower. But in Louisiana and most of the South it is much higher. The civilizing process never penetrated the South as it did New England. Instead, a culture of honor, a weak police tradition and a shortage of penitentiaries left Southerners with only personal violence as a way of defending themselves, a system that affected both whites and blacks.