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Sarah,
Most of the news these days seems to be negative. There is one big exception: crime has been
steadily dropping nationwide since 1992.
This drop has continued throughout the recession. To learn why, I read articles from The
Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, and The Economist. The three publications offered an absurd
amount of reasons but no real definitive conclusions. Therefore, I’m just going to list every
theory in no particular order because no one is really sure why the crime rate is
dropping.
The Theories:
1. The police have better technology. Computer systems organize vast amounts of
data, show where crimes are concentrated and predict trends. This has allowed police departments to allocate
their resources more efficiently. It
also increases accountability because numbers do not lie. (Unless you’re a cop
on The Wire)
2. Officers are working closer with the communities. The police are more trusted than they were
twenty years ago.
3. America’s absurdly
high incarceration rate, fueled by strict drug laws, has removed criminals from
the street. Evidence for this is mixed
and usually depends on if your source leans conservative or liberal. Since I lean liberal in this department, I’ll
mention that New York has experienced one of the largest drops in crime but has
not incarcerated nearly as many people per capita as the rest of the nation.
2. Prescriptions of psychiatric
drugs have increased. Less crazy people
commit less crime.
3. Lead has been
removed from gas. Tests show that levels
of lead in the average American’s blood dropped dramatically from 1975 to 1992.
4. The legalization
of abortion in the 1970’s reduced the amount of “unwanted children” and these
children were more prone to commit crime.
(this very controversial theory is from the book Freakonomics.)
5. America is aging
and an aging population necessarily lowers the crime rate.
6. Video games have
provided young men with an alternative way to spend their time.
7. The percentage of
immigrants in cities has increased.
Studies show that cities with higher proportions of immigrants have
lower crime rates.
8. Aggressive stop
and frisk strategies, such as the one employed in New York, have taken guns off
the street.
9. More individuals are buying burglar alarms for their
homes and LoJack for their cars.
10. Harder economic
times lead people to practice more self-control and rely on family. The Great Depression also experienced a drop
in crime, while crime grew rapidly in the strong economy of the 1960’s.
Which theory is right?
I have no idea.
great article greg. a few of the factors precede current trends (abortion, lead, immigrants in cities), i wonder if their related beneficial effects on crime may have started a while ago but continue to accumulate.
ReplyDeletewhat about our nation's social programs, maybe they're getting better at addressing the critical issues. we do spend way more on "safety net programs" now.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/05/14/152671813/50-years-of-government-spending-in-1-graph
Thanks for your comment! I'm sure that the nation's social programs have had an effect as well. The graph in the article is amazing!
ReplyDeleteConservative news I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. therefore, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article.
ReplyDeleteWatch live news in arabic now Wow, cool post. I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real hard work to make a great article... but I put things off too much and never seem to get started. Thanks though.
ReplyDelete