4 ms·

Why did it go up to begin with?

• __z 11y ago
  In the early 60s and crime kept increasing every year until it peaked in the early 90s. Its been on a steep decline ever since. There's some interesting graphs here - http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2010/06/16/a-crime-puzzle-violent-crime-declines-in-america/ http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2010/06/16/a-crime-puzzle-violent-... Murder rates are plotted with lead exposure here - http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/us-murder-rate-track-be-lowest-century http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/05/us-murder-rate...
  • ExpiredLink 11y ago
    Correlation is not causation.
    • __z 11y ago
      What's the point of this comment? I wasn't trying to make a point I was answering the GP's question (which was a good question). The lead hypothesis is common and was examined in the article in more detail. The main reason I added the second link (which included the lead hypothesis) was because it contained the most data I could find - it went back to 1876. The fact it was graphed with lead exposure wasn't at all important, the murder rate data going back to the 1800s was the important part and it answered the question.
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
• popeshoe 11y ago
  In The Better Angels of our Nature, Steven Pinker postulates that one likely reason for the increase in violent crime was the first set of baby boomers becoming teenagers, with rowdy young people outnumbering older ones who might control them by quite a large margin.