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Are you 100% certain that the definition of violent crime isn't a moving target? It sounds so cut and dry, but is it? Also, are you 100% certain that this does
by whiddershins 13y ago
Are you 100% certain that the definition of violent crime isn't a moving target? It sounds so cut and dry, but is it?
Also, are you 100% certain that this doesn't reflect a change in what people are charged with, rather than their actual behavior? Have you any experience with prosecutorial discretion and how that affects what people are charged with, and hence, the "crime rate."
- hammerzeit 13y agoI certainly don't, and I think these are important and fascinating questions. Do you have any evidence to suggest the definition of violent crime has changed at all? I'd be very curious if that were the case. In the absence of evidence, though, I'll continue going with what I understand to be the generally-accepted theory that crime rose dramatically throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
- whiddershins 13y agoAnecdotally, we Americans are considerably less tolerant of violence that we were decades ago. What used to be a "pop in the nose" in now assault. What used to be a schoolyard scuffle is now a suspension, counseling, and possibly medication, possibly arrest. Whether that has any bearing whatsoever on crime stats, I have no idea. It could even be a response to crime going down, or completely unrelated. It would be really interesting to try to figure it out.