3 ms·

I don't know about suicide, but many people theorized at the time that crime would rise during the Great Recession in the US. However, counter-intuitively, cri

I don't know about suicide, but many people theorized at the time that crime would rise during the Great Recession in the US. However, counter-intuitively, crime continued its decades-long decline. Why this happened is the subject of debate.

mercer 11y ago
Interesting. Did it at least slow down in decline, or was there no noticeable difference during the Great Recession?
- spacehome 11y ago
  I don't know. But you can look at the graph here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/upshot/perceptions-havent-caught-up-to-decline-in-crime.html?abt=0002&abg=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/upshot/perceptions-havent-... One possible interpretation is that the crime rate looked like it was starting to increase again immediately before the financial meltdown but then started to decline with the recession.
dummy7953 11y ago
Perhaps due to the privatization of prisons?
dummy7953 11y ago
I recall reading somewhere that the move to unleaded gasoline may have had an effect. Also abortion rates.
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  Digital thermostats rather than mercury tilt switches, also digital thermometers. Most people dont know how todic mercury is. If you break a mercury thermometer call 911 to request a hazmat team. Autmobiles are far more efficient than they once were, also they have far cleaner engines. Even with smog certifications dirty cars become so worn out they can no longer be repaired. One can still purchase a beater but it will have fuel injection and a computer.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    > If you break a mercury thermometer call 911 to request a hazmat team. That's an over-reaction. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/chemicals/hsees/mercury/cleaning_up_a_small_mercury_spill.htm https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/chemicals/hsees/merc... http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/ http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/

mercer 11y ago

Interesting. Did it at least slow down in decline, or was there no noticeable difference during the Great Recession?

spacehome 11y ago
I don't know. But you can look at the graph here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/upshot/perceptions-havent-caught-up-to-decline-in-crime.html?abt=0002&abg=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/upshot/perceptions-havent-... One possible interpretation is that the crime rate looked like it was starting to increase again immediately before the financial meltdown but then started to decline with the recession.

dummy7953 11y ago

Perhaps due to the privatization of prisons?

dummy7953 11y ago

I recall reading somewhere that the move to unleaded gasoline may have had an effect. Also abortion rates.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
Digital thermostats rather than mercury tilt switches, also digital thermometers. Most people dont know how todic mercury is. If you break a mercury thermometer call 911 to request a hazmat team. Autmobiles are far more efficient than they once were, also they have far cleaner engines. Even with smog certifications dirty cars become so worn out they can no longer be repaired. One can still purchase a beater but it will have fuel injection and a computer.
- DanBC 11y ago
  > If you break a mercury thermometer call 911 to request a hazmat team. That's an over-reaction. https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/chemicals/hsees/mercury/cleaning_up_a_small_mercury_spill.htm https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/chemicals/hsees/merc... http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/ http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/