Crime Over Time
In the long term, violent crime in the United States has been in decline since colonial times. However, during the early 20th century, crime rates in the United States were higher compared to parts of Western Europe. For example, 198 homicides were recorded in the American city of Chicago in 1916, a city of slightly over 2 million at the time. This level of crime was not exceptional when compared to other American cities such as New York, but was much higher relative to European cities, such as London, which then had three times the population but recorded only 45 homicides in the same year.
After World War II, crime rates increased in the United States, peaking from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Violent crime nearly quadrupled between 1960 and its peak in 1991. Property crime more than doubled over the same period. Since the 1990s, however, crime in the United States has declined steeply. Several theories have been proposed to explain this decline:
- The number of police officers increased considerably in the 1990s.
- The prison population has been expanded since the mid-1970s.
- Starting in the mid-1980s, the crack cocaine market grew rapidly before declining again a decade later. Some authors have pointed towards the link between violent crimes and crack use.
- One hypothesis suggests a causal link between legalized abortion and the drop in crime during the 1990s.
- Changing demographics of an aging population has been cited for the drop in overall crime.
- Another hypothesis suggests reduced lead exposure as the cause; Scholar Mark A.R. Kleiman writes: "Given the decrease in lead exposure among children since the 1980s and the estimated effects of lead on crime, reduced lead exposure could easily explain a very large proportion—certainly more than half—of the crime decrease of the 1994-2004 period. A careful statistical study relating local changes in lead exposure to local crime rates estimates the fraction of the crime decline due to lead reduction as greater than 90 percent.
- Three Strikes You're Out Laws were suggested during the 1992 election cycle and implemented immediately following.
| Year | Violent crime | Murder and non-negligent manslaughter |
Forcible rape | Robbery | Aggravated assault |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 160.9 | 5.1 | 9.6 | 60.1 | 86.1 |
| 1961 | 158.1 | 4.8 | 9.4 | 58.3 | 85.7 |
| 1962 | 162.3 | 4.6 | 9.4 | 59.7 | 88.6 |
| 1963 | 168.2 | 4.6 | 9.4 | 61.8 | 92.4 |
| 1964 | 190.6 | 4.9 | 11.2 | 68.2 | 106.2 |
| 1965 | 200.2 | 5.1 | 12.1 | 71.7 | 111.3 |
| 1966 | 220.0 | 5.6 | 13.2 | 80.8 | 120.3 |
| 1967 | 253.2 | 6.2 | 14.0 | 102.8 | 130.2 |
| 1968 | 298.4 | 6.9 | 15.9 | 131.8 | 143.8 |
| 1969 | 328.7 | 7.3 | 18.5 | 148.4 | 154.5 |
| 1970 | 363.5 | 7.9 | 18.7 | 172.1 | 164.8 |
| 1971 | 396.0 | 8.6 | 20.5 | 188.0 | 178.8 |
| 1972 | 401.0 | 9.0 | 22.5 | 180.7 | 188.8 |
| 1973 | 417.4 | 9.4 | 24.5 | 183.1 | 200.5 |
| 1974 | 461.1 | 9.8 | 26.2 | 209.3 | 215.8 |
| 1975 | 487.8 | 9.6 | 26.3 | 220.8 | 231.1 |
| 1976 | 467.8 | 8.7 | 26.6 | 199.3 | 233.2 |
| 1977 | 475.9 | 8.8 | 29.4 | 190.7 | 247.0 |
| 1978 | 497.8 | 9.0 | 31.0 | 195.8 | 262.1 |
| 1979 | 548.9 | 9.8 | 34.7 | 218.4 | 286.0 |
| 1980 | 596.6 | 10.2 | 36.8 | 251.1 | 298.5 |
| 1981 | 594.3 | 9.8 | 36.0 | 258.4 | 289.3 |
| 1982 | 570.8 | 9.1 | 34.0 | 238.8 | 289.0 |
| 1983 | 537.7 | 8.3 | 33.8 | 216.7 | 279.4 |
| 1984 | 539.9 | 7.9 | 35.7 | 205.7 | 290.6 |
| 1985 | 556.6 | 8.0 | 36.8 | 209.3 | 304.0 |
| 1986 | 620.1 | 8.6 | 38.1 | 226.0 | 347.4 |
| 1987 | 612.5 | 8.3 | 37.6 | 213.7 | 352.9 |
| 1988 | 640.6 | 8.5 | 37.8 | 222.1 | 372.2 |
| 1989 | 666.9 | 8.7 | 38.3 | 234.3 | 385.6 |
| 1990 | 729.6 | 9.4 | 41.1 | 256.3 | 422.9 |
| 1991 | 758.2 | 9.8 | 42.3 | 272.7 | 433.4 |
| 1992 | 757.7 | 9.3 | 42.8 | 263.7 | 441.9 |
| 1993 | 747.1 | 9.5 | 41.1 | 256.0 | 440.5 |
| 1994 | 713.6 | 9.0 | 39.3 | 237.8 | 427.6 |
| 1995 | 684.5 | 8.2 | 37.1 | 220.9 | 418.3 |
| 1996 | 636.6 | 7.4 | 36.3 | 201.9 | 391.0 |
| 1997 | 611.0 | 6.8 | 35.9 | 186.2 | 382.1 |
| 1998 | 567.6 | 6.3 | 34.5 | 165.5 | 361.4 |
| 1999 | 523.0 | 5.7 | 32.8 | 150.1 | 334.3 |
| 2000 | 506.5 | 5.5 | 32.0 | 145.0 | 324.0 |
| 2001 | 504.5 | 5.6 | 31.8 | 148.5 | 318.6 |
| 2002 | 494.4 | 5.6 | 33.1 | 146.1 | 309.5 |
| 2003 | 475.8 | 5.7 | 32.3 | 142.5 | 295.4 |
| 2004 | 463.2 | 5.5 | 32.4 | 136.7 | 288.6 |
| 2005 | 469.0 | 5.6 | 31.8 | 140.8 | 290.8 |
| 2006 | 473.6 | 5.7 | 31.0 | 149.4 | 287.5 |
| 2007 | 466.9 | 5.6 | 30.0 | 147.6 | 283.8 |
| 2008 | 457.5 | 5.4 | 29.7 | 145.7 | 276.7 |
| 2009 | 431.9 | 5.0 | 29.1 | 133.1 | 264.7 |
| 2010 | 403.6 | 4.8 | 27.5 | 119.1 | 252.3 |
| 2011 | 386.3 | 4.7 |
| Year | Property crime | Burglary | Larceny | Motor vehicle theft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 1,726.3 | |||
| 1961 | 1,747.9 | |||
| 1963 | 2,012 | |||
| 1965 | 2,249 | |||
| 1967 | 2,736 | |||
| 1969 | 3,351 | |||
| 1971 | 3,769 | |||
| 1973 | 3,737 | |||
| 1975 | 4,811 | |||
| 1977 | 4,602 | |||
| 1979 | 5,017 | |||
| 1981 | 5,264 | |||
| 1983 | 4,637 | |||
| 1985 | 4,650 | |||
| 1987 | 4,940 | |||
| 1989 | 5,078 | |||
| 1991 | 5,140 | |||
| 1992 | 4,903.7 | 1,168.4 | 3,103.6 | 631.6 |
| 1993 | 4,740.0 | 1,099.7 | 3,033.9 | 606.3 |
| 1994 | 4,660.2 | 1,042.1 | 3,026.9 | 591.3 |
| 1995 | 4,590.5 | 987.0 | 3,043.2 | 560.3 |
| 1996 | 4,451.0 | 945.0 | 2,980.3 | 525.7 |
| 1997 | 4,316.3 | 918.8 | 2,891.8 | 505.7 |
| 1998 | 4,052.5 | 863.2 | 2,729.5 | 459.9 |
| 1999 | 3,743.6 | 770.4 | 2,550.7 | 422.5 |
| 2000 | 3,618.3 | 728.8 | 2,477.3 | 412.2 |
| 2001 | 3,658.1 | 741.8 | 2,485.7 | 430.5 |
| 2002 | 3,630.6 | 747.0 | 2,450.7 | 432.9 |
| 2003 | 3,591.2 | 741.0 | 2,416.5 | 433.7 |
| 2004 | 3,514.1 | 730.3 | 2,362.3 | 421.5 |
| 2005 | 3,431.5 | 726.9 | 2,287.8 | 416.8 |
| 2006 | 3,346.6 | 733.1 | 2,213.2 | 400.2 |
| 2007 | 3,276.4 | 726.1 | 2,185.4 | 364.9 |
| 2008 | 3,214.6 | 733.0 | 2,166.1 | 315.4 |
| 2009 | 3,041.3 | 717.7 | 2,064.5 | 259.2 |
| 2010 | 2,945.9 | 701.0 | 2,005.8 | 239.1 |
| 2011 | 2,908.7 | 702.2 | 1,976.9 | 229.6 |
Read more about this topic: Organized Crime In New York City
Famous quotes containing the words crime and/or time:
“Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Take Time by the forelock. It is also the safest part to take a serpent by.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)