By way of illustration, where I'm from (an urban area of Virginia in the USA) muggings, carjackings and the like are comparatively rare, and confined to the absolute worst neighborhoods. One important reason for this is that those who attempt crimes of that nature are quite frequently shot in the attempt, and so the criminally inclined know they're likely hazarding more than just jail time. This is why I'm such a proponent of guns (not to open up that can of worms), they enable US to intimidate the bad guys, collectively, instead of the other way around.
Hache, I know this gets back to the discussion we had a while back, so I'll try not to beat a dead horse. You're absolutely right: running is safer if possible, and not being in the wrong place at the wrong time is certainly safest of all; the point here I think is that resistance (if you can pull it off) benefits the community as a whole by intimidating would-be robbers.