Correlation is not causation. Of course, there is a correlation between pollution and "depression" (as in "depressive regions") or "desperation", but it is not

Correlation is not causation. Of course, there is a correlation between pollution and "depression" (as in "depressive regions") or "desperation", but it is not a direct cause of seemed decline in crime. My bet is that the decline (or at least shift to less dramatic "technological/financial" crimes) is a cultural phenomena, influenced heavily by cheap and easy credit and media (especially so-called "social media"). It is just not cool or fashionable to be a dumb looter or a "primitive" gangster anymore. Nowadays one has to be "a clever guy" - a cheater instead of a criminal, an internet tycoon, overcharging credit cards of idiots who had ordered a colon cleanser form a stupid website, instead of simple armed robber of a drugstore on the corner. This works even for Russia, which, putting aside some African extremes, is the most criminalized society in the world. Even for them it is more fashionable to run a porn studio to sell pictures in the net than robbing trucks or brutally killing each other for a used BMW car. Nowadays one has to be "clever" to steal from the government, to gamble the corrupted [banking] system , cheat on idiots in internet, and even with their own credits and mortgages. The shift from stupid brutality to technological/financial/social "cleverness" (as they think of it) is what others call "decline in crime".)