US Violent Crime Has Been Dropping

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. violent crime rate fell 39 percent and the property crime rate fell by 29 percent from 2000 to 2009, Bureau of Justice Statistics officials say.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/16/US-violent-crime-down-to-1973-levels/UPI-42161287207614/

Excellent News. And somewhat surprising, also.  Public perception is that violent crime is going up.  And you would think with the tough economy more people would be angry and violent. Apparently that is not the case.


There are a number of possible explanations for this drop.  We have incarcerated a lot of folks who  can therefor no longer commit violent crimes outside of prison.  The Book Freakonomics proposes the controversial theory that part of the drop is tied to the legalization of abortion.  Fewer babies were born to women who did not want and could not properly care for children, and twenty something years later violent crime dropped.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakonomics