DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - A long, humorous tirade against both liberals and conservatives (offensive, maybe)

**Figelac** · 01-07-2006, 12:57 AM

Do you have any other info on this? It's an interesting premise. Thanks.

Sure..
Jan 22, 1973 the supreme court declared abortion legal.
In 1980 crack cocaine started it's rampage in America. And with it came the most devastating crime wave in U.S. history. By 1990, double-digit weekend murders were common in most major U.S. cities.
Top criminalogist were predicting another 15% murder rate by 2000.
Yet, by 1992 crime started to fall, and then fell and fell more. In 2001, Chicago had it's first murder-free weekend, in 2003 the murder count for NY city was 596, 1/4th the body count in 1990. Everyone was ready to stake their claim for this miracle...that no one predicted.
Despite all the claims of why crime in EVERY catagory fell so completely, nothing added up. It wasn't more arrests..rates of arrest fell just as dramatic. It wasn't increased sentencing, or the "3 strikes your out" chime - their were fewer inmates also.
In 2000, the U.S. government made the most complete census count than ever before.
An ecomomist named Stephen Levitt noticed something...there was a stark drop in teen populations in the nations poorest neighborhoods. And who makes up the most criminals? - teenagers in the nations poorest neighborhoods. Add the factor of a single -parent home and the percentage of that child committing a violent crime escolates even higher.
Sooo - the murder rate in the United States dropped over 50%...in five years.
Theories were everywhere,the most believeable - or perhaps the most widely claimed - was "it is the roaring economy"..what a great story! Crime falls because people have jobs!!..that is until you look closer, the great economic boom of the late 90's had almost no effect in poor, urban neighborhoods - unemployment never dipped below the double-digits for the entire decade.
So what was it?...simple...there were fewer criminals...fewer teen males in high crime areas. Where did they go? They were never born.

01-07-2006, 12:57 AM	#14
Figelac Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 518 Senior Member	Do you have any other info on this? It's an interesting premise. Thanks. Sure.. Jan 22, 1973 the supreme court declared abortion legal. In 1980 crack cocaine started it's rampage in America. And with it came the most devastating crime wave in U.S. history. By 1990, double-digit weekend murders were common in most major U.S. cities. Top criminalogist were predicting another 15% murder rate by 2000. Yet, by 1992 crime started to fall, and then fell and fell more. In 2001, Chicago had it's first murder-free weekend, in 2003 the murder count for NY city was 596, 1/4th the body count in 1990. Everyone was ready to stake their claim for this miracle...that no one predicted. Despite all the claims of why crime in EVERY catagory fell so completely, nothing added up. It wasn't more arrests..rates of arrest fell just as dramatic. It wasn't increased sentencing, or the "3 strikes your out" chime - their were fewer inmates also. In 2000, the U.S. government made the most complete census count than ever before. An ecomomist named Stephen Levitt noticed something...there was a stark drop in teen populations in the nations poorest neighborhoods. And who makes up the most criminals? - teenagers in the nations poorest neighborhoods. Add the factor of a single -parent home and the percentage of that child committing a violent crime escolates even higher. Sooo - the murder rate in the United States dropped over 50%...in five years. Theories were everywhere,the most believeable - or perhaps the most widely claimed - was "it is the roaring economy"..what a great story! Crime falls because people have jobs!!..that is until you look closer, the great economic boom of the late 90's had almost no effect in poor, urban neighborhoods - unemployment never dipped below the double-digits for the entire decade. So what was it?...simple...there were fewer criminals...fewer teen males in high crime areas. Where did they go? They were never born.
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