Posted on 10/22/2011 10:01:41 AM PDT by RC one
Health care, climate change, terrorism — is it even possible to solve big problems? The mood in Washington is not very hopeful these days. But take a look at what has happened to one of the biggest, toughest problems facing the country 20 years ago: violent crime. For years, Americans ranked crime at or near the top of their list of urgent issues. Every politician, from alderman to President, was expected to have a crime-fighting agenda, yet many experts despaired of solutions. By 1991, the murder rate in the U.S. reached a near record 9.8 per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, criminologists began to theorize that a looming generation of so-called superpredators would soon make things even worse. (See the top 10 crime stories of 2009.)
Then, a breakthrough. Crime rates started falling. Apart from a few bumps and plateaus, they continued to drop through boom times and recessions, through peace and war, under Democrats and Republicans. Last year's murder rate may be the lowest since the mid-1960s, according to preliminary statistics released by the Department of Justice. The human dimension of this turnaround is extraordinary: had the rate remained unchanged, an additional 170,000 Americans would have been murdered in the years since 1992. That's more U.S. lives than were lost in combat in World War I, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq — combined. In a single year, 2008, lower crime rates meant 40,000 fewer rapes, 380,000 fewer robberies, half a million fewer aggravated assaults and 1.6 million fewer burglaries than we would have seen if rates had remained at peak levels. There's a catch, though. No one can convincingly explain exactly how the crime problem was solved. Police chiefs around the country credit improved police work. Demographers cite changing demographics of an aging population.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Joe Biden?
More armed citizens?!?!?
Check cities where crime has not fallen!!
A greater number of citizens are packing heat is why!
I’m sure it’s something simple like they quit counting certain types of crimes.
Falling crime rate?
Due in part to:
Rising gun ownership rate.
Rising ammo sales rate.
Rising numbers of citizens practicing at the range rate.
Rising CCW rate and rising number of states which authorize CCW.
Rising number of states with Castle Doctrine law.
Just to name a few.
give this man a cigar.
What have gun ownership rates done during the same period?
The main reason is the change in demographics. Older people don’t commit crimes. The boomers who were criminals back in the 60s and 70s are now too old and decrepit to break and enter anymore. They’re dealing with breaking their hips and entering the first stage of dementia. :)
secretly putting valium in the water supply.
I think an armed citizenry helps but I think maybe all the state three strikes laws have helped a lot too. its beside the point really.
....what’s behind it?...false numbers given out by idiots that need Odumbo reelected so they can rob the American citizen for another 4 yrs...
Sign I have in the garden in back coming up the walk to the back door says simply: “WARNING! There is nothing in this house worth dying for.” There is a picture of a Glock on the bottom corner of the sign. Outfront along walk the sign simply says: “Warning - Homeowner armed and not afraid to use deadly force.”
Yup. And notice, not a single word about the way gun control has been eviscerated over the same time period, and no open comment section where this obvious intentional omission could be pointed out.
His worshipfullness in chief bringing the country together. /MS
R. Dwayne Betts may be one of those not-so-bad guys, sentenced to nine years in an adult prison on a first offense at age 16. It's hard to know if a less severe punishment would have worked. Betts hijacked a stranger's car at gunpoint, which is a dangerous and depraved thing to do. But he also showed signs of promise, having earned his high school diploma a year ahead of schedule. Betts gradually learned to navigate the violence and boredom of prison and emerged in 2006 ready to launch a respectable life, enrolling in college, getting married and writing a book called A Question of Freedom. He looks on those prison years as a costly void, "a waste of society's time and money in the sense that I didn't get any rehabilitation or any educational opportunities." Most inmates, Betts continues, can't do what he has done; they don't have the tools. "I was fortunate in that I knew how to read, I liked books, was pretty intelligent, and I knew I had no intention of being locked up for the rest of my life."
In other words, the punishment did what it was supposed to do... but... somehow this is a bad thing?
I am sure another reason is that a number of crimes aren't even reported by the victims like they used to be (especially theft crimes).
VP Biden seems to think the crime rate is rising and will continue to so so unless we give 400 billion dollars to various union employees i.e. democrats.
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