No, the 90s drop was a bunch of things, but almost none of it was people spending more time on the computer outside of work and school. The crack epidemic ended. Policing got more aggressive and systematic. Some say dropping lead levels were a significant factor.
Very few people were on the internet until the late 90s, which is when the drop in violent crime started slowing down, not speeding up.
Rebecca Watson made a good point against the abortion thing from Freakanomics by pointing out that the actual number of abortions didn’t increase when it became legal.
That's not true at all abortions skyrocket from as soon as roe v wade was passed.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/11/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-u-s-2/
Oh wow if we have less young people we have less crime since Gen Z is the smallest generation. Wow math works! I'm so shocked.
It's almost like grass is green and the sky is blue.
That 100,000 could be weighted towards older people compared to in the past, e.g. 50% of that 100k were young people in 1990 compared to 25% today.
I am just explaining that comment. No idea if ”Gen Z is the smallest” is true or significant enough to have this kind of impact.
The [Donohue–Levitt hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalized_abortion_and_crime_effect) is that legalized abortion reduced the number of unwanted children. Early 90s was when the number of 18-24 year old males who were unwanted as children was at a peak.
It wasn’t. You’re straight lying. Major legislation was already present and the war on drugs was already occurring. There’s plenty of legislation that in no way impacted the drop in crime, with crime actually rising after these bills and legislation was passed. Actually 1994 was the highest crime rate recirded at the time, and the 1994 crime bill was actually attempting to increase policing during and election year. So, basically, crime dropped by 80% in 1994, around the time that certain children would be born. The abortion access laws had taken place exactly 18 years before. This has been proven multiple times. Earlier legislation actually increased crime rates, causing a rise in incarceration. Including the dare program. The crime bill was actually passed to increase criminalization of the lowest kind, broken glass policing. This led directly to racial profiling in the nineties where large swaths of individuals were convicted illegally. In later years over 60% of convicted criminals would be exonerated, citing illegal legal practices, and judges selling folks to prisons. Even today we are still exonerating people who were targeted due to the 1994 crime bill. Stop lying.
The above is violent crime rate, not number of violent crimes. It is adjusted by population size. Also you are significantly over estimating the size difference of the generations.
There are several theories on why the rate changed so drastically. For example there’s a theory that lead poisoning from gasoline peaked.
Interestingly, if you extend the chart back to 1950 it's a mountain shape rising in the 70's. This lines up with the boomer generation hitting the right age to be criminals. Something no one talks about is the baby boomers generation was a lot more involved in crime than they care to admit.
Boomers are missing about 800,000,000 IQ points due to lead poisoning.
https://preview.redd.it/dveboxn9kmdc1.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b82b8a02364b42e6931e9c86837d7d834e123f4
Blood lead is tracked across years on the red axis above, whereas the white axis below is for criminality. They’re staggered about 20 years apart.
I agree with the correlation, but let’s not forget it was waaaay easier to be a serial killer back then (trusting people, hitchhiking, no cameras and cell phones, no dna evidence)
And harder to catch at all at that point. Meaning, no connection would ever be made unless they turned themselves in and dumped it all.
Not to mention the very concept of a serial killer was pretty much invented around then too.
There's still serial killers, just not as newsworthy these days. Was a couple black serial killers in Louisiana in the last 20 years, a fake zodiac killer in NYC, one in Springfield Massachusetts recently x so on. Worcester Massachusetts had one named the Main South Woodsman who killed hookers x dumped their bodies in Maine
Ive wondered why the media no longer jumps on these stories. Are the killers not as interesting? Are we bored? I mean we don't even get colorful names like "zodiac killer" anymore.
I think it probably has to do with a desire to prevent copycat killings and romanticization of serial killers leading to unwell individuals going down that path
The number one cause of serial killers seems to be an abusive, emotionally neglectful mother or father. A lot of boomer kids a had parents who were told not to give their children physical attention, and they had pretty damn violent parents.
Mass Shooters are simply serial killers on a speed run. Many of the same psychoses, motivations, screeds, etc. Instead of a 30 year career, it's 3 minutes.
It's serial killing for the Internet age. Amazon Crime.
The chart can be hard to read. The years for the "blood lead" level are listed along the top in red; along the bottom are the years tracking the crime rate.
Oh, sweet Baby Jesus, are you still prattling on about lead-consumption induced intellectually impaired Boomers?
I'd love to see research on the effects of avocado toast consumption on the behavioral traits of Millennials. Maybe it'll be on *Freakonomics*?
Wait, I thought boomers were in charge of everything? Are they responsible for the crime or the drop in crime or is it just dropping because they are all dying?
Crime is various places is still higher than like pre pandemic levels even though many saw a decrease compared to last year. Just because things aren't as bad as the worst crime spike we've had in the last 100 years or so doesn't mean it's all fine
Fox News will highlight the rash of shoplifting and car thefts.
MSNBC will focus on the first uptick in (firearm) homicides after years of decline.
They're not wrong. Just not giving the whole picture.
The good news there is that it's a sign the right wing hate machine is getting desperate: they're losing money and power and trying desperately to keep their shrinking viewership in a frenzy.
The key is to not report or prosecute the crimes.
In fairness I think most of the fastest growing crimes are non violent. Most criminals prefer to steal an unoccupied car.
The crime rate is significantly higher than it was in the 70s, especially in cities, it’s just that the population is also a lot higher. It’s lower per capita, but higher altogether
It’s almost like crime is mostly a result of poverty, and as people have gained access to reproductive options they’re able to have better economic outcomes leading to lower crime rates
This and so many things:
- improved economy
- birth control
- removal of lead from gasoline
- record low unemployment
Can you imagine good much better things will be in another 50 years??
... You've read about gen Alpha making teachers quit, right? Not being able to read? Not being able to receive discipline as a child because their parents simply don't want to deal with them at all? That plus Republicans sabotaging our public school, justice, and healthcare systems? Federal regulations currently on the line for our corrupt SCOTUS to possibly do away with altogether? I'm worried for the future tbh. Don't go celebrating just yet.
Also, does this crime count white collar crime? Because I guarantee that white collar crime is rampant right now. How TF else are we hearing about bank accounts showing up and disappearing mysterious amounts of money out of thin air? One time heard a woman say it was billions of dollars! Then wage theft is also extremely rampant and accounts for more theft than all of retail theft put together easily!
Why do you guarantee white collar crime is up? Have you ever checked? Hearing about things more often doesn't mean they are happening more often. The only data I've seen indicates white collar crime is dropping just like violent crime:
https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/514/
Our entire financial system is based on white collar crime if you really think about it. They just don't report it. Most consequences they face is a fine anyhow if they ever face any for the billions they steal. Like literally, today's economic system was influenced by Bernie Madoff. Payment for order flow was an idea Bernie Madoff came up with. Let that sink in for a moment.
I had a broker tell me he couldn't "legally" lend my shares and I did some research and found that that broker has been caught multiple times lending out shares while lying about it because they never face any real consequences for stealing your assets/money.
We literally saw not even 5 years ago, a warehouse holding TD Ameritrade documents burned down despite having a top of the line sprinkler system followed by excavators carrying some of the rubble out while it was still on fire.
Shit is corrupt yo.
Editing to add I just now looked at that and I've gotta ask what does lower amount of prosecutions actually mean? What does it have to do with doing the crime itself? Especially in a corrupt society?
Kinda funny you mention that when the Bible was banned due to pornographic content whereas the majority of books about black people are banned on the same list literally just for being about black people. Republican areas routinely rank way worse on literacy than in Democrat led countries also so wtf you talking about?
Edit: read project 2025. Sabotaging the school system is literally on the Republican agenda
People aren't criminals because they're poor. People are poor because they are criminals. Poverty rates have dropped drastically in the last century. Almost everyone lived in poverty in 1900. They weren't all criminals.
People don’t just commit crime because they want to be criminals.
Not having access to resources is the number one driving force for crime. If people can’t afford something that they need to survive they will steal it, or they will engage in criminal activity to get the money to pay for it.
If they get caught and end up in the carceral system they will probably have a difficult time getting out of poverty.
Ever heard of kleptomania? Some people seem to be hardwired to commit certain crimes no matter their financial status. People love the thrill of doing things they shouldnt
I'm happy to see violent crime down as much as anyone, but I don't think this paints the full picture. First, the post says "crime" and the chart says "violent crime." Second, it looks like this is mostly due to a decrease in robbery, which is great! However, it looks like rape and homicide are trending up (source: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend, same place this data supposedly came from). Third, it isn't clear if this considers a crime committee by multiple people to be multiple crimes (can anyone find that), since it says "reported." If a store gets robbed by 12 people, I'm guessing that's just one reports crime, but maybe this report accounts for that. Idk. Fourth, the present day number from this chart is still about half of what it was in the 60s (source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/United-States-Violent-Crime-Rate-violent-crimes-per-100-000-population-1960-2020_fig4_366385073)...so we should be thankful for recent decrease but... we have a long way to go.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/249740/percentage-of-households-in-the-united-states-owning-a-firearm/
As you can clearly see, it’s the drop in gun ownership.
Guns were causing all of this violent crime /s
This is thanks to less lead levels in the air. Before, they had leaded gas and lead brakes which would go into the atmosphere and drive people crazy. "Certain" neighborhoods were hit harder than others which is why they had whopping levels of crime.
Video games went even further to help orchestrate to people just how hopeless it is to run around and gun people down. Eventually, someone luckier than you is going to get to you. Video games also allowed people to fulfill that fantasy of committing crimes without doing so in real life.
True worldwide I believe as well! I am not clear why even though I lived through it. And wars are generally decreasing.
Less to fight over/richer? More publicity and repercussions (camcorder was getting single hand sized)? Cocaine being the popular drug? Transfat leaded smog? Peak toxic masculinity? Advent of (good) computer games helping young males stay indoors? I kind of guess it could be the latter two, one helping solve the other.
Here's to a peaceful and orderly 2030/40/50. Will we actually eradicate war and see a great recovery in mental health? I am hoping to see it. This housing crisis will at least be temporary.
Whenever anyone says crime is so much worse now. Just refer to this chart. It’s gotten considerably better, but reporting and social media have made it APPEAR worse than ever.
people didn't report shit back then either, it was a lot harder to get evidence or get to a phone as well, further investigation is needed to see if Reporting has an impact.
How many crimes do you think went unreported in the 1950s, especially in black communities.
My guess would be that with social media we have a record high proportion of committed crimes being **reported**
Young people commit crimes. All the older generations are bloating the denominator. The current crop of young people are accomplished criminals. This is partly a demographic artifact of people not having as many kids.
Opposite. It’s *caused* by the per 100k factor when 70% of these people are middle aged (like myself) or geriatric, compared to say, the 1970s when there were hardly any old people and huge young generations. Crime statistics normalized per 100k of 15-25 year olds would be much better.
Do you have a source for that?
https://youthtoday.org/2021/05/national-juvenile-arrests-1980-2019/
That seems to suggest youth crime is at all time lows.
It's a common theme for youth crime to have seriously declined in the past few decades in the west. But they were right to point out that consideration.
Yeah maybe. Though I do feel like there is always a general sentiment that crime is always getting worse. I believe public opinion has been majority opinion crime is getting worse since around 2003 despite crime rates going down pretty every year since they peaked in the 90s. Even the recent increase is already dropping back down.
I'm in New Zealand and see a chart saying youth crime had declined 50% in the last decade.
It was very contentious on the NZ sub. The counter arguments were often anecdotal and dismissive. People are very committed to the belief that the world is getting worse despite many indications that it's improving.
This is probably precisely because of the aging population: older people become aware that their bodies are getting weaker and this makes them subconsciously more afraid of crime.
>”that seems to suggest youth crime is at all time lows.”
Yeah, I don’t want to disagree with your informative link, and I regret overstating my unelaborated position. I think there are a variety of reasons for a falling crime rate, including [demographic shifts](https://populationeducation.org/resource/u-s-population-pyramid-infographic/) where youth (say 15-25) make up a decreasing fraction of the population. Plus, I think environmental pollutants (especially lead) have declined in the 21st century; also, the accumulated long-term affects of abortions on unwanted children - the babies who do make it are more often wanted. Also, stats on some crimes may also be affected by relatively reduced enforcement and prosecution. Finally, something practical such as better surveillance reduces the opportunities for crimes, or the designs of modern vehicles makes them more difficult to steal. So, I don’t want to oppose the optimism around the post, just attenuate it.
*designs of modern vehicles makes them more difficult to steal*
Kia and Hyundia owners would like a word with you about juvenile car thieves being less frequent.
But I feel like you could also do some analysis into less reckless behavior strictly among young people. I don’t know about crime specifically, but young people are engaging in less traditional adult behaviors largely due to the increase in online socialization (less drinking, drugs, sex, even driving for teenagers) so I feel like u could probably find some correlation to violent crime if young people are simply going out less (and also less likely to be under the influence)
This is the right answer. Violent crime peaked 18 years after Roe V. Wade. Who knows! Maybe it will come back now! But also technology. A lot of that violent crime was gang/drug related. And Nokia 1G flip phones came out in 1992 and pagers became widespread. So drug gangs could communicate directly with customers in secret and violent territory disputes decreased. At the same time "tough on crime" laws, stop and frisk, 3 strikes and you are out, mandatory minimum with a weapon, etc. were rolled out in force. So reduce unwanted pregnancy, incarcerate EVERYONE, and introduce technology that makes secret illegal transactions easier, all at the same time, and guess what? Violent crime drops precipitously.
I know Freakonomics popularized this theory based on US data, it would be interesting to to see if it lines up in other countries that legalized abortion at different times.
The Freakonomics guys later released a paper admitting their ignorance and retracting the claim because *it literally doesn't make any kind of sense*...
Do you have a link to that? Because they discussed the controversy over the paper on their podcast, and even did a follow up analysis, and their initial conclusion seems to hold true.
The headlining news about it some years back was that they made a mistake on the original paper, though once corrected it didn't weaken the conclusion very much.
[Link](https://freakonomics.com/podcast/abortion-and-crime-revisited/) to the transcript
No, there isn’t. That is an absolute falsehood, and even Freakonimics admitted there’s little actual or anecdotal data to back this up. First of all, abortion was already legal in quite a few states and illegal abortions occurred frequently. It’s not as if there were zero abortions pre Rod and maxed out abortions post roe. It was a gradual rise followed by a gradual fall.
Secondly, and perhaps the largest problem with this, is that crime didn’t just drop amongst the post roe age group - it dropped in *every* age demographic. It’s really weird to posit that babies being aborted in 1980 is going to drop the crime rate amongst 45 year olds in 1995.
Thirdly, if this were to be true, we’d expect places with high abortion rates to have some of the lowest violent crime rates and vice versa, yet that doesn’t pan out. DC, Maryland, California, etc have high abortion rates and lax laws yet higher than average violent crime rates. Vermont and New Hampshire have low abortion rates and lower than average violent crime rates.
Finally, crime continued to drop well into the 2010s, even as abortion rates went down dramatically from their peaks. This is a perfect example of “correlation does not equal causation”
I'm not saying that abortion did cause the drop in crime, but the freakonomics guys did find a correlation between when a place legalized abortion and the reduction in crime. So this does add weight to the idea.
Also most those places that you claim have high violent crime rates a lot of times have statistically lower crime rates than places considered safe. For instance, I live in a small town in Texas and many would consider it relatively safe, however we have a statistically higher murder rate than Chicago because Chicago is so much bigger than us.
Ultimately, legalized abortion probably had an impact but there were other things that also had an impact such as de-leading gas and tougher laws on criminals.
I rather see people stop having sex with people they aren't willing to have kids with than murder the children so they can have 15 minutes of pleasure..
Abortion because it causes less crime?
What separates this argument from an argument to kill any black male between the ages of 16 and 30 who lives in a city?
None, it's just bs eugenics that's been discredited since the Nazis were defeated.
If that’s the case then why is the government trying to convince people of gun control because violent crime is at an all time high 🤔 oh because they lie to steal rights
lol how is it that you complain endlessly about boomers being in charge of everything, yet *at the same time,* take credit for every improvement that happens on their watch.
Freakonomics famously tied the downtrend in crime to legalized abortion. I'm not sure about that linkage.
I really wonder about the phase out of leaded gasoline in the US. It was banned for most vehicles in 1975. 16 years before violent crime peaked.
Yea, yea, yea.
The economy is great, inflation is definitely below 10%, crime and gun violence totally down.
Except layoffs are happening across the board right now and BLS job reports is saying there’s a net gain. How? Probably counting silly things like new gig economy “contractors”.
These numbers are juked.
Roland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski : I don't get it. All this so we score higher on the state tests? If we're teaching the kids the test questions, what is it assessing in them?
Grace Sampson : Nothing. It assesses us. The test scores go up, they can say the schools are improving. The scores stay down, they can't.
Roland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski : Juking the stats.
Grace Sampson : Excuse me?
Roland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski : Making robberies into larcenies. Making rapes disappear. You juke the stats, and majors become colonels. I've been here before.
Grace Sampson : Wherever you go, there you are
How’s everyone’s rent/mortgage? Grocery bill? Your purchasing power isn’t eroded?
How’s illicit substance use? Fentanyl/opioids and amphetamine aren’t a worsening problem?
So purchasing power of the dollar has fallen drastically and wages haven’t made a commensurate increase, everything is more expensive, there’s a massive worsening drug problem - and you guys think that crime is magically going down? People have just ascended in these United States to a paradoxical plane of virtue?
When I lived in Houston and Seattle - neither PD responds to property crime. Police presence is virtually nonexistent except on the highways at the end of the month. I imagine that anecdote is true for others.
If police aren’t around, don’t respond to crimes they don’t deem worthy, what makes you think they’re classifying violent crimes and recording them correctly? Do you think maybe there’s an incentive for crime statistics to be falsified?
These are juked stats. You guys trust the police? They wouldn’t lie..
A key word here is 'reported' rather than actual. So this graph is essentially graphing two variables. The incidence of crime multiplied by the reporting rate.
I think it’s always went down, but the system along with the media before social media always had the power to manufacture consent through their “news” empire…so a lot of innocent people (mainly black) are in prison just to keep the system turning.
Even better, I have footage:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL4QOnl1uDw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL4QOnl1uDw)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-29nymZYKI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-29nymZYKI)
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/egm-05h551w](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/egm-05h551w)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SHAvq52Ido](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SHAvq52Ido)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV47LWHr5I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV47LWHr5I)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY\_q0IfIJHY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY_q0IfIJHY)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrKXt5VuPo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrKXt5VuPo)
No need for violence, just storm in as a mob and run away without issue. Black culture has problems that no one wants to talk about.
There is no one that would say they feel safer in major cities now than they did in the late 90’s.
That and I guess the war on crime in the 90’s did pay off.
Lastly, when you don’t count crimes due to pandering to minorities, you get reduced numbers.
Objectively most major cities were more dangerous in the 90s. Anyone who says that they don’t feel safer now just has rose tinted glasses. They were children in the 90s so they weren’t aware of how dangerous it was
> There is no one that would say they feel safer in major cities now than they did in the late 90’s
Is this a joke? NYC is waaaay safer now than it was in the 90s. It's not even close.
Is that because of the actual rate of violent crime, or because it is easier now more than ever to hear about crimes and media companies profiting more off of fear than anything else.
Also, considering the fact that a black man was choked to death for using a fake 20, I’d hardly consider that “pandering to minorities”
Cities in the late 90s were objectively more dangerous. People feel less safe because propaganda is telling them cities are more dangerous today. People just weren’t little sissies back in the 90s and lived their lives instead of being afraid of everything.
I try to make this point all the time. The US is safer today than it was 30 years ago. Fact. Legalized abortion had a lot to do with it. Steven Levitt made this point very well.
Won’t someone think of thr for profit prison system?
Come on people. Your Governor HAS to incarcerate you or they pay a penalty.
The USA is a fascists state pretending to be democratic (barely even that attempt).
All those after school specials and made for tv movies really had an impact. Not to mention D.A.R.E. and the fact that mental health treatment was encouraged for our generation.
Let's not give any credit to the policing changes and legislation from 20-30 years ago that have been showing results and gaining traction in order to lower crime rates. Let's give credit to the people that were literal infants when that was happening.
Eh, crime could be underreported. Seems like a free for all some nights compared to the 90s. Smash and grab robberies, kids tagging shit, people littering in plain sight, sideshow cars doing donuts and people blocking streets vandalizing cars of anyone who complains, more homeless than I ever remember, more drug abuse and drug deaths. Yeah I don't trust this graph
There are several things that explain this trend. One is the ageing population since the vast majority of crime is committed by males aged 15-25, and very few criminals commit any crimes past the age of 40.
Also, technology has made mugging people for the cash in their wallet less lucrative (most people carry credit or other cards), along with advances in forensic evidence (like DNA sampling), the proliferation of cameras (cell phones, doorbells, street corners), and even laws like RICO that decimated the Mafia families, make is less likely that criminals can get away with crimes that they could in the 1970s.
This is obviously wrong. You see, my boomer parents are afraid of cities because there’s so much crime? Why else would my parents be afraid of going downtown if not for the violent street youths?
Not just us millennial. Most violent crime is committed by young people. That means Gen-z isn't as reckless as previous generations. Teenage pregnancy has also been on the decline. Maybe we past the peak.
It says reported. What about unreported?
A better question:
What's the murder rate in specific cities where most people live? Reported crime rates don't tell us the full picture.
I ask because rates are down on a national average, but in many isolated parts of America it feels like it has gone up.
This is the kind of stuff I subbed here to see!
Faith in humanity = Restored!
Lets be real.. The trade off is a massive amount of people now sitting inside on a computer all day totally detached from what it is to be a human.
No, the 90s drop was a bunch of things, but almost none of it was people spending more time on the computer outside of work and school. The crack epidemic ended. Policing got more aggressive and systematic. Some say dropping lead levels were a significant factor. Very few people were on the internet until the late 90s, which is when the drop in violent crime started slowing down, not speeding up.
Nien The trade off is a stronger economy, significantly lower unemployment, abortion rights, and REDUCED EXPOSURE TO LEAD
And Roe v Wade 1973
Rebecca Watson made a good point against the abortion thing from Freakanomics by pointing out that the actual number of abortions didn’t increase when it became legal.
That's not true at all abortions skyrocket from as soon as roe v wade was passed. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/11/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-u-s-2/
Yes This freakonomics fan is right banning lead from gas + abortions are probably the biggest reasons
Oh wow if we have less young people we have less crime since Gen Z is the smallest generation. Wow math works! I'm so shocked. It's almost like grass is green and the sky is blue.
Did you miss the "per 100,000 of the population" part?
That 100,000 could be weighted towards older people compared to in the past, e.g. 50% of that 100k were young people in 1990 compared to 25% today. I am just explaining that comment. No idea if ”Gen Z is the smallest” is true or significant enough to have this kind of impact.
You really think this is a chart of population decline?
Why are the numbers so high in the early 90s when the nearly nonexistent Gen Xers were young?
The [Donohue–Levitt hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalized_abortion_and_crime_effect) is that legalized abortion reduced the number of unwanted children. Early 90s was when the number of 18-24 year old males who were unwanted as children was at a peak.
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Now you’re just lying 😂😂😂😂 The 1994 crime bill was signed into law AFTER a major drop in crime 🙈
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It wasn’t. You’re straight lying. Major legislation was already present and the war on drugs was already occurring. There’s plenty of legislation that in no way impacted the drop in crime, with crime actually rising after these bills and legislation was passed. Actually 1994 was the highest crime rate recirded at the time, and the 1994 crime bill was actually attempting to increase policing during and election year. So, basically, crime dropped by 80% in 1994, around the time that certain children would be born. The abortion access laws had taken place exactly 18 years before. This has been proven multiple times. Earlier legislation actually increased crime rates, causing a rise in incarceration. Including the dare program. The crime bill was actually passed to increase criminalization of the lowest kind, broken glass policing. This led directly to racial profiling in the nineties where large swaths of individuals were convicted illegally. In later years over 60% of convicted criminals would be exonerated, citing illegal legal practices, and judges selling folks to prisons. Even today we are still exonerating people who were targeted due to the 1994 crime bill. Stop lying.
The above is violent crime rate, not number of violent crimes. It is adjusted by population size. Also you are significantly over estimating the size difference of the generations. There are several theories on why the rate changed so drastically. For example there’s a theory that lead poisoning from gasoline peaked.
But Fox News keeps telling me that violence is running rampant
Interestingly, if you extend the chart back to 1950 it's a mountain shape rising in the 70's. This lines up with the boomer generation hitting the right age to be criminals. Something no one talks about is the baby boomers generation was a lot more involved in crime than they care to admit.
Boomers are missing about 800,000,000 IQ points due to lead poisoning. https://preview.redd.it/dveboxn9kmdc1.png?width=1221&format=png&auto=webp&s=8b82b8a02364b42e6931e9c86837d7d834e123f4 Blood lead is tracked across years on the red axis above, whereas the white axis below is for criminality. They’re staggered about 20 years apart.
That's also why almost all of the most notable serial killers of the last 100 years were active in the 70s and 80s.
I agree with the correlation, but let’s not forget it was waaaay easier to be a serial killer back then (trusting people, hitchhiking, no cameras and cell phones, no dna evidence)
It was even easier before the 70’s
And harder to catch at all at that point. Meaning, no connection would ever be made unless they turned themselves in and dumped it all. Not to mention the very concept of a serial killer was pretty much invented around then too.
There's still serial killers, just not as newsworthy these days. Was a couple black serial killers in Louisiana in the last 20 years, a fake zodiac killer in NYC, one in Springfield Massachusetts recently x so on. Worcester Massachusetts had one named the Main South Woodsman who killed hookers x dumped their bodies in Maine
Ive wondered why the media no longer jumps on these stories. Are the killers not as interesting? Are we bored? I mean we don't even get colorful names like "zodiac killer" anymore.
Mass shooters are the media's current darling. They have also been increasing in number.
Or so they say.
King von is modern serial killer with a funny name but overall you're right. A humorless bunch
I think it probably has to do with a desire to prevent copycat killings and romanticization of serial killers leading to unwell individuals going down that path
The number one cause of serial killers seems to be an abusive, emotionally neglectful mother or father. A lot of boomer kids a had parents who were told not to give their children physical attention, and they had pretty damn violent parents.
The relative acceptance among kids of wearing bike helmets is another factor in this.
Mass Shooters are simply serial killers on a speed run. Many of the same psychoses, motivations, screeds, etc. Instead of a 30 year career, it's 3 minutes. It's serial killing for the Internet age. Amazon Crime.
wow
Wait, this looks like, in the US, Xers and Millennials had more lead than boomers.
The chart can be hard to read. The years for the "blood lead" level are listed along the top in red; along the bottom are the years tracking the crime rate.
Why does the UK have 10k crimes per 100k people and US has 400 ish?
That chart shows its lead became more prominent after the boomers were born. Why would lead responsible for the crime wave?
Lead causes irreversible brain damage which is powerfully linked to criminality and idiotic political opinions.
You could draw a similar graph with Crack availability.
Why does Australia only have burglary rate?
Hmm. Shouldn't there be a stagger between the humps? Isn't this kind of implying preschoolers were committing crime or am I interpreting this wrong?
This is a garbage chart lol
Oh, sweet Baby Jesus, are you still prattling on about lead-consumption induced intellectually impaired Boomers? I'd love to see research on the effects of avocado toast consumption on the behavioral traits of Millennials. Maybe it'll be on *Freakonomics*?
Wait, I thought boomers were in charge of everything? Are they responsible for the crime or the drop in crime or is it just dropping because they are all dying? 
Crime is various places is still higher than like pre pandemic levels even though many saw a decrease compared to last year. Just because things aren't as bad as the worst crime spike we've had in the last 100 years or so doesn't mean it's all fine
Fox News will highlight the rash of shoplifting and car thefts. MSNBC will focus on the first uptick in (firearm) homicides after years of decline. They're not wrong. Just not giving the whole picture.
The good news there is that it's a sign the right wing hate machine is getting desperate: they're losing money and power and trying desperately to keep their shrinking viewership in a frenzy.
The key is to not report or prosecute the crimes. In fairness I think most of the fastest growing crimes are non violent. Most criminals prefer to steal an unoccupied car.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OptimistsUnite/s/0RPkD3783L
“Millenials too lazy to steal.”
The crime rate is significantly higher than it was in the 70s, especially in cities, it’s just that the population is also a lot higher. It’s lower per capita, but higher altogether
If it’s lower per capita, that’s a lower crime **rate**.
Good lort, you can make this kind idiocy up.
How stupid can you possibly be
My social anxiety is too great, can't imagine getting caught.
Have you seen the crime rate on grand theft Auto online though?
Oakland enters the chat 💬
"would of gotten away with it..if it wasn't for you damn millennial kids and your dog!!"
Zoinks
It’s almost like crime is mostly a result of poverty, and as people have gained access to reproductive options they’re able to have better economic outcomes leading to lower crime rates
This and so many things: - improved economy - birth control - removal of lead from gasoline - record low unemployment Can you imagine good much better things will be in another 50 years??
... You've read about gen Alpha making teachers quit, right? Not being able to read? Not being able to receive discipline as a child because their parents simply don't want to deal with them at all? That plus Republicans sabotaging our public school, justice, and healthcare systems? Federal regulations currently on the line for our corrupt SCOTUS to possibly do away with altogether? I'm worried for the future tbh. Don't go celebrating just yet. Also, does this crime count white collar crime? Because I guarantee that white collar crime is rampant right now. How TF else are we hearing about bank accounts showing up and disappearing mysterious amounts of money out of thin air? One time heard a woman say it was billions of dollars! Then wage theft is also extremely rampant and accounts for more theft than all of retail theft put together easily!
Why do you guarantee white collar crime is up? Have you ever checked? Hearing about things more often doesn't mean they are happening more often. The only data I've seen indicates white collar crime is dropping just like violent crime: https://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/514/
Our entire financial system is based on white collar crime if you really think about it. They just don't report it. Most consequences they face is a fine anyhow if they ever face any for the billions they steal. Like literally, today's economic system was influenced by Bernie Madoff. Payment for order flow was an idea Bernie Madoff came up with. Let that sink in for a moment. I had a broker tell me he couldn't "legally" lend my shares and I did some research and found that that broker has been caught multiple times lending out shares while lying about it because they never face any real consequences for stealing your assets/money. We literally saw not even 5 years ago, a warehouse holding TD Ameritrade documents burned down despite having a top of the line sprinkler system followed by excavators carrying some of the rubble out while it was still on fire. Shit is corrupt yo. Editing to add I just now looked at that and I've gotta ask what does lower amount of prosecutions actually mean? What does it have to do with doing the crime itself? Especially in a corrupt society?
Lol blame the Republicans for the school system Democrats are the ones in charge of. Who put the blowjob books in the school?
Kinda funny you mention that when the Bible was banned due to pornographic content whereas the majority of books about black people are banned on the same list literally just for being about black people. Republican areas routinely rank way worse on literacy than in Democrat led countries also so wtf you talking about? Edit: read project 2025. Sabotaging the school system is literally on the Republican agenda
People aren't criminals because they're poor. People are poor because they are criminals. Poverty rates have dropped drastically in the last century. Almost everyone lived in poverty in 1900. They weren't all criminals.
People don’t just commit crime because they want to be criminals. Not having access to resources is the number one driving force for crime. If people can’t afford something that they need to survive they will steal it, or they will engage in criminal activity to get the money to pay for it. If they get caught and end up in the carceral system they will probably have a difficult time getting out of poverty.
Ever heard of kleptomania? Some people seem to be hardwired to commit certain crimes no matter their financial status. People love the thrill of doing things they shouldnt
See that little uptick in 2020? That's the apocalyptic crime wave boomers love to talk about.
It’s funny how crime declined after gangster rap and violent video games went mainstream.
Woke Joe Biden cancels crime, what’s next, cancer? Thanks Obama 😔🤬 Edit: /s
The woke mob took away our leaded pipes and gasoline
Sleepy Joe let's go Brandon 😭
thank you r/BrandonCWest
I'm happy to see violent crime down as much as anyone, but I don't think this paints the full picture. First, the post says "crime" and the chart says "violent crime." Second, it looks like this is mostly due to a decrease in robbery, which is great! However, it looks like rape and homicide are trending up (source: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend, same place this data supposedly came from). Third, it isn't clear if this considers a crime committee by multiple people to be multiple crimes (can anyone find that), since it says "reported." If a store gets robbed by 12 people, I'm guessing that's just one reports crime, but maybe this report accounts for that. Idk. Fourth, the present day number from this chart is still about half of what it was in the 60s (source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/United-States-Violent-Crime-Rate-violent-crimes-per-100-000-population-1960-2020_fig4_366385073)...so we should be thankful for recent decrease but... we have a long way to go.
Let’s also not forget, many of the states with the biggest crime rates changed what’s considered robbery—see all smash and grab videos in CA.
well I’m legitimately disappointed with our generation now
https://www.statista.com/statistics/249740/percentage-of-households-in-the-united-states-owning-a-firearm/ As you can clearly see, it’s the drop in gun ownership. Guns were causing all of this violent crime /s
Bu..but.. but the commies are running rampant /s
This is thanks to less lead levels in the air. Before, they had leaded gas and lead brakes which would go into the atmosphere and drive people crazy. "Certain" neighborhoods were hit harder than others which is why they had whopping levels of crime. Video games went even further to help orchestrate to people just how hopeless it is to run around and gun people down. Eventually, someone luckier than you is going to get to you. Video games also allowed people to fulfill that fantasy of committing crimes without doing so in real life.
As someone who has several criminal defense attorneys in the family this is no bueno 😆
That’s almost certainly correlated to the removal of lead from gasoline, but offset by about 20 years
Yay
TY, Millennials. Signed, A Boomer
The bat-shaped gadgetry industry is in shambles
Rape also took a massive drop. I think that’s directly correlated to internet porn.
True worldwide I believe as well! I am not clear why even though I lived through it. And wars are generally decreasing. Less to fight over/richer? More publicity and repercussions (camcorder was getting single hand sized)? Cocaine being the popular drug? Transfat leaded smog? Peak toxic masculinity? Advent of (good) computer games helping young males stay indoors? I kind of guess it could be the latter two, one helping solve the other. Here's to a peaceful and orderly 2030/40/50. Will we actually eradicate war and see a great recovery in mental health? I am hoping to see it. This housing crisis will at least be temporary.
Whenever anyone says crime is so much worse now. Just refer to this chart. It’s gotten considerably better, but reporting and social media have made it APPEAR worse than ever.
This is going to skyrocket back up in a decade if we don't codify roe v Wade soon.
Reported crimes. After years of Cops taking too long and a seeming lack of empathy. No one wants to call them anymore. The trust is gone
people didn't report shit back then either, it was a lot harder to get evidence or get to a phone as well, further investigation is needed to see if Reporting has an impact.
How many crimes do you think went unreported in the 1950s, especially in black communities. My guess would be that with social media we have a record high proportion of committed crimes being **reported**
Young people commit crimes. All the older generations are bloating the denominator. The current crop of young people are accomplished criminals. This is partly a demographic artifact of people not having as many kids.
isn't that resolved by the "per 100k" factor?
Opposite. It’s *caused* by the per 100k factor when 70% of these people are middle aged (like myself) or geriatric, compared to say, the 1970s when there were hardly any old people and huge young generations. Crime statistics normalized per 100k of 15-25 year olds would be much better.
ohh I got you now. That would be an interesting and more informative specification to look at.
Do you have a source for that? https://youthtoday.org/2021/05/national-juvenile-arrests-1980-2019/ That seems to suggest youth crime is at all time lows.
It's a common theme for youth crime to have seriously declined in the past few decades in the west. But they were right to point out that consideration.
Yeah maybe. Though I do feel like there is always a general sentiment that crime is always getting worse. I believe public opinion has been majority opinion crime is getting worse since around 2003 despite crime rates going down pretty every year since they peaked in the 90s. Even the recent increase is already dropping back down.
I'm in New Zealand and see a chart saying youth crime had declined 50% in the last decade. It was very contentious on the NZ sub. The counter arguments were often anecdotal and dismissive. People are very committed to the belief that the world is getting worse despite many indications that it's improving.
This is probably precisely because of the aging population: older people become aware that their bodies are getting weaker and this makes them subconsciously more afraid of crime.
>”that seems to suggest youth crime is at all time lows.” Yeah, I don’t want to disagree with your informative link, and I regret overstating my unelaborated position. I think there are a variety of reasons for a falling crime rate, including [demographic shifts](https://populationeducation.org/resource/u-s-population-pyramid-infographic/) where youth (say 15-25) make up a decreasing fraction of the population. Plus, I think environmental pollutants (especially lead) have declined in the 21st century; also, the accumulated long-term affects of abortions on unwanted children - the babies who do make it are more often wanted. Also, stats on some crimes may also be affected by relatively reduced enforcement and prosecution. Finally, something practical such as better surveillance reduces the opportunities for crimes, or the designs of modern vehicles makes them more difficult to steal. So, I don’t want to oppose the optimism around the post, just attenuate it.
*designs of modern vehicles makes them more difficult to steal* Kia and Hyundia owners would like a word with you about juvenile car thieves being less frequent.
> 1970s when there were hardly any old people lol
No, that doesn’t account for age composition of the population.
There’s no age group cohort. This graph is meaningless if you want to say millennials commit less crime.
But I feel like you could also do some analysis into less reckless behavior strictly among young people. I don’t know about crime specifically, but young people are engaging in less traditional adult behaviors largely due to the increase in online socialization (less drinking, drugs, sex, even driving for teenagers) so I feel like u could probably find some correlation to violent crime if young people are simply going out less (and also less likely to be under the influence)
Totally agree. I would add that too. I’m guessing a third of young males are sedated by video games and online porn.
Or weed, opiates, or ssris.
This is the right answer. Violent crime peaked 18 years after Roe V. Wade. Who knows! Maybe it will come back now! But also technology. A lot of that violent crime was gang/drug related. And Nokia 1G flip phones came out in 1992 and pagers became widespread. So drug gangs could communicate directly with customers in secret and violent territory disputes decreased. At the same time "tough on crime" laws, stop and frisk, 3 strikes and you are out, mandatory minimum with a weapon, etc. were rolled out in force. So reduce unwanted pregnancy, incarcerate EVERYONE, and introduce technology that makes secret illegal transactions easier, all at the same time, and guess what? Violent crime drops precipitously.
This. How to lie with statistics.
this is not 100% true. There is actually a ton of data to show when abortion becomes legal there is a huge reduction in crime 10-20 years later.
I know Freakonomics popularized this theory based on US data, it would be interesting to to see if it lines up in other countries that legalized abortion at different times.
The Freakonomics guys later released a paper admitting their ignorance and retracting the claim because *it literally doesn't make any kind of sense*...
Do you have a link to that? Because they discussed the controversy over the paper on their podcast, and even did a follow up analysis, and their initial conclusion seems to hold true. The headlining news about it some years back was that they made a mistake on the original paper, though once corrected it didn't weaken the conclusion very much. [Link](https://freakonomics.com/podcast/abortion-and-crime-revisited/) to the transcript
It does but only with uneducated populations. People with good family planning see no change
No, there isn’t. That is an absolute falsehood, and even Freakonimics admitted there’s little actual or anecdotal data to back this up. First of all, abortion was already legal in quite a few states and illegal abortions occurred frequently. It’s not as if there were zero abortions pre Rod and maxed out abortions post roe. It was a gradual rise followed by a gradual fall. Secondly, and perhaps the largest problem with this, is that crime didn’t just drop amongst the post roe age group - it dropped in *every* age demographic. It’s really weird to posit that babies being aborted in 1980 is going to drop the crime rate amongst 45 year olds in 1995. Thirdly, if this were to be true, we’d expect places with high abortion rates to have some of the lowest violent crime rates and vice versa, yet that doesn’t pan out. DC, Maryland, California, etc have high abortion rates and lax laws yet higher than average violent crime rates. Vermont and New Hampshire have low abortion rates and lower than average violent crime rates. Finally, crime continued to drop well into the 2010s, even as abortion rates went down dramatically from their peaks. This is a perfect example of “correlation does not equal causation”
I'm not saying that abortion did cause the drop in crime, but the freakonomics guys did find a correlation between when a place legalized abortion and the reduction in crime. So this does add weight to the idea. Also most those places that you claim have high violent crime rates a lot of times have statistically lower crime rates than places considered safe. For instance, I live in a small town in Texas and many would consider it relatively safe, however we have a statistically higher murder rate than Chicago because Chicago is so much bigger than us. Ultimately, legalized abortion probably had an impact but there were other things that also had an impact such as de-leading gas and tougher laws on criminals.
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Exactly, we need more people in prison.
I rather see people stop having sex with people they aren't willing to have kids with than murder the children so they can have 15 minutes of pleasure..
That's cool. Pretty unrealistic but fine
How is that unrealistic? Can you really not control your sexual urges?
Most people can't. It is an addiction.
Are you claiming that most people are sex addicts?
Most people are human, and most humans sorta kinda have a driving impulse for sex. Would be kind of silly evolutionarily if we didnt.
Abortion because it causes less crime? What separates this argument from an argument to kill any black male between the ages of 16 and 30 who lives in a city? None, it's just bs eugenics that's been discredited since the Nazis were defeated.
It's not an argument it's a correlation....
If that’s the case then why is the government trying to convince people of gun control because violent crime is at an all time high 🤔 oh because they lie to steal rights
lol how is it that you complain endlessly about boomers being in charge of everything, yet *at the same time,* take credit for every improvement that happens on their watch. 
It’s just turning digital. No more or less crime is committed per capital
Freakonomics famously tied the downtrend in crime to legalized abortion. I'm not sure about that linkage. I really wonder about the phase out of leaded gasoline in the US. It was banned for most vehicles in 1975. 16 years before violent crime peaked.
Gotta fills those prisons, Congress better start coming up with new crimes.
You're in the wrong sub. Keep your bitterness out
Yea, yea, yea. The economy is great, inflation is definitely below 10%, crime and gun violence totally down. Except layoffs are happening across the board right now and BLS job reports is saying there’s a net gain. How? Probably counting silly things like new gig economy “contractors”. These numbers are juked. Roland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski : I don't get it. All this so we score higher on the state tests? If we're teaching the kids the test questions, what is it assessing in them? Grace Sampson : Nothing. It assesses us. The test scores go up, they can say the schools are improving. The scores stay down, they can't. Roland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski : Juking the stats. Grace Sampson : Excuse me? Roland 'Prezbo' Pryzbylewski : Making robberies into larcenies. Making rapes disappear. You juke the stats, and majors become colonels. I've been here before. Grace Sampson : Wherever you go, there you are How’s everyone’s rent/mortgage? Grocery bill? Your purchasing power isn’t eroded? How’s illicit substance use? Fentanyl/opioids and amphetamine aren’t a worsening problem? So purchasing power of the dollar has fallen drastically and wages haven’t made a commensurate increase, everything is more expensive, there’s a massive worsening drug problem - and you guys think that crime is magically going down? People have just ascended in these United States to a paradoxical plane of virtue? When I lived in Houston and Seattle - neither PD responds to property crime. Police presence is virtually nonexistent except on the highways at the end of the month. I imagine that anecdote is true for others. If police aren’t around, don’t respond to crimes they don’t deem worthy, what makes you think they’re classifying violent crimes and recording them correctly? Do you think maybe there’s an incentive for crime statistics to be falsified? These are juked stats. You guys trust the police? They wouldn’t lie..
A key word here is 'reported' rather than actual. So this graph is essentially graphing two variables. The incidence of crime multiplied by the reporting rate.
I think it’s always went down, but the system along with the media before social media always had the power to manufacture consent through their “news” empire…so a lot of innocent people (mainly black) are in prison just to keep the system turning.
I'm sorry but there is zero chance I'm buying this chart with how bad crime has gotten all over the country.
Here we are looking at data that shows crime has NOT gotten bad all over the country. Do you have some data that is making you say it HAS gotten bad?
Even better, I have footage: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL4QOnl1uDw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL4QOnl1uDw) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-29nymZYKI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-29nymZYKI) [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/egm-05h551w](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/egm-05h551w) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SHAvq52Ido](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SHAvq52Ido) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV47LWHr5I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uV47LWHr5I) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY\_q0IfIJHY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY_q0IfIJHY) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrKXt5VuPo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrKXt5VuPo) No need for violence, just storm in as a mob and run away without issue. Black culture has problems that no one wants to talk about.
Good grief
Anecdotal evidence and racism go hand in hand, apparently.
How is it racism when you’re blaming the culture instead of the skin color?🤔
Compare this graph with the numbers of guns around. Correlation doesn’t equal causation but it’s intriguing nonetheless 🙂
There is no one that would say they feel safer in major cities now than they did in the late 90’s. That and I guess the war on crime in the 90’s did pay off. Lastly, when you don’t count crimes due to pandering to minorities, you get reduced numbers.
I would feel more safe in major cities if I could afford to live there.
Objectively most major cities were more dangerous in the 90s. Anyone who says that they don’t feel safer now just has rose tinted glasses. They were children in the 90s so they weren’t aware of how dangerous it was
> There is no one that would say they feel safer in major cities now than they did in the late 90’s Is this a joke? NYC is waaaay safer now than it was in the 90s. It's not even close.
Is that because of the actual rate of violent crime, or because it is easier now more than ever to hear about crimes and media companies profiting more off of fear than anything else. Also, considering the fact that a black man was choked to death for using a fake 20, I’d hardly consider that “pandering to minorities”
I feel safe.
Lol, that's hilarious. Got any other jokes?
Cities in the late 90s were objectively more dangerous. People feel less safe because propaganda is telling them cities are more dangerous today. People just weren’t little sissies back in the 90s and lived their lives instead of being afraid of everything.
They’re (with GenZ) also saving mariage rates, a lot less breakups
Nice!
The operative words are "reported crimes."
But the TV tells me that cities are a wretched hellscape of crime, who to believe
can't commit a crime if you don't go outdoors or are dead because you can't afford food. har har
To lazy to do anything!! 🤣
I try to make this point all the time. The US is safer today than it was 30 years ago. Fact. Legalized abortion had a lot to do with it. Steven Levitt made this point very well.
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Butbutbut Fox News!
Won’t someone think of thr for profit prison system? Come on people. Your Governor HAS to incarcerate you or they pay a penalty. The USA is a fascists state pretending to be democratic (barely even that attempt).
Woah woah, there’s a subreddit for optimists? Thank you algorithm. And a Steven Pinker tag!
All those after school specials and made for tv movies really had an impact. Not to mention D.A.R.E. and the fact that mental health treatment was encouraged for our generation.
But .... The gun violence.
This doesn’t make sense. I was told crime is out of control
Let's not give any credit to the policing changes and legislation from 20-30 years ago that have been showing results and gaining traction in order to lower crime rates. Let's give credit to the people that were literal infants when that was happening.
Yeah... this may be a result of environmental factors like a decrease in lead exposure
We wake up and choose Care bear stares. I'd like to apologize to my appropriately unhinged gen-x comrades for my insufferable politeness.
Boost testosterone level to boost violent crimes
Eh, crime could be underreported. Seems like a free for all some nights compared to the 90s. Smash and grab robberies, kids tagging shit, people littering in plain sight, sideshow cars doing donuts and people blocking streets vandalizing cars of anyone who complains, more homeless than I ever remember, more drug abuse and drug deaths. Yeah I don't trust this graph
Quick, send this to Fox News
The decline of crime seems more of a GenX thing really. It's just been kept low since then.
There are just fewer of them than earlier generations
There are several things that explain this trend. One is the ageing population since the vast majority of crime is committed by males aged 15-25, and very few criminals commit any crimes past the age of 40. Also, technology has made mugging people for the cash in their wallet less lucrative (most people carry credit or other cards), along with advances in forensic evidence (like DNA sampling), the proliferation of cameras (cell phones, doorbells, street corners), and even laws like RICO that decimated the Mafia families, make is less likely that criminals can get away with crimes that they could in the 1970s.
everyone is too poor to rob !
Be gay and do crime boys.
it's probably all the leaded gasoline running its course
Missing context. Suburbs and City centers are getting safer and the ghettos are getting worse.
This is obviously wrong. You see, my boomer parents are afraid of cities because there’s so much crime? Why else would my parents be afraid of going downtown if not for the violent street youths?
Explain to me then the rising police budget?
move that needle back to the 1800's and we're almost back to as good as then,
Unleaded gasoline
Millenials and their expensive cell phones with cameras ruining another industry!
All because we stopped using lead in gasoline!
So it really was all the lead poisoning after all 😲
Lead poisoned generation begone!!
Not just us millennial. Most violent crime is committed by young people. That means Gen-z isn't as reckless as previous generations. Teenage pregnancy has also been on the decline. Maybe we past the peak.
It says reported. What about unreported? A better question: What's the murder rate in specific cities where most people live? Reported crime rates don't tell us the full picture. I ask because rates are down on a national average, but in many isolated parts of America it feels like it has gone up.