What is the reason for the escalation of crimes in America over the last 50 or so years?

Question

This is just a general question to see what people think, so please do not judge me or label me without knowing where I am coming from. It's downright rude and insulting.

Answer 1

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In this technology enriched society we find ourselves in, there will always be perplexities. Therefore, any answer may or may not meet your expectations. There are too many illegal and legal aliens; this means the love for the country is not there.

Answer 2

I am going to label you, judge you AND insult just on general principle!

Anyhow I think that with the decline in the quality of education and the ideology of doing whatever feels good is what is causing people to want to become criminals.

Answer 3

I think it was that bastard Alf. I mean with the eating of the cats and all of that. Things were just find with the world until that guy came around. Either Alf or Bush. I mean the physicist are trying to find a unifying rule to the universe. I am trying to find a unifying thing to blame everything on. That is what I am looking for.
b

Answer 4

Population increase, more people > more crime

or

there really isn't a crime increase. depending on what type of crime you are talking about. crime rates have gone down. But I think the BIGGEST factor that gives us the idea that crime is increasing, is the amount and almost instantaneous news coverage that can be given to us anytime day or night.

Answer 5

There was actually a very steep drop in crime rates during the mid and late 90s.

There are a lot of reasons behind increases in crime. Increased levels of poverty in terms of numbers are one thing. The poor tend to commit more crimes for a variety of reasons. Also cuts in police funding relative to population size, increases in illegal drug availability, decreases in spending on social welfare programs relative to the actual value of money, failing educational systems, a greater number of single-parent households - all of these are contributors to increased levels of crime.

Answer 6

I firmly believe that it's the breakdown of the American family, lower moral standards, divorce, media violence perpetuated by people's desire to be entertained by violence/immorality. The divorce rate leads to absence of fathers in their sons lives. Kids getting dropped of continually at day-care instead of spending their days in a loving home environment.

Answer 7

I think its because the world is coming to an end. It will get worse before it gets better

Answer 8

Violent crime and property crime fell last year to their lowest levels since the government began collecting statistics 30 years ago, the Justice Department reported Sunday.
The report, issued by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, estimated that there were 23.6 million violent and property crimes last year. That compares with 44 million in 1973, a decline of almost 50%.

The estimate was drawn from the bureau's annual survey of crime victims. The survey is considered one of the most credible measures of crime because it includes crimes that victims say were committed, not just crimes that they reported to police.

The numbers reflect an overall decline in crime during the 1990s, as reported by victims and by local police to the FBI. And they would appear to ease concern that crime was starting to ease back up after being at historically low levels.

During the past 10 years, the violent crime rate fell 54.6%, from 52.2 per 1,000 people in 1993 to 23.7 crimes last year, the new report said. That means about 23 people out of 1,000 older than 12 were victims of violent crime in 2002. The property crime rate fell 50% in the same period to 159 crimes per 1,000 people last year.

Murder was the exception to the trend. The report said murders continued to rise slightly. Preliminary numbers reported by the FBI from police reports indicate there were 16,110 murders last year, up slightly from 15,980 in 2001 and 15,586 a year earlier.

Criminologists have attributed the decline in crime to tougher prison sentences and to demographics, in which the population is aging. Violent crime, especially, tends to be committed predominantly by young males.

To capture trends and account for fluctuations in rates, the Bureau of Justice Statistics typically charts crime in two-year blocks. Among its other findings:

Rates for all types of violent crime except murder decreased dramatically during 2001-02 compared with the previous two-year period. Rape and sexual assault rates declined nearly 25%; robbery fell 27% and assault nearly 20%.

Rates for property crimes had similar declines. The burglary rate fell more than 14%, theft dropped 13%. Motor vehicle theft fell 2%.

Victim rates fell for blacks, whites and Hispanics in 2001-02. But black victims continued to suffer crimes at the highest rates — nearly 30 per 1,000, compared with about 27 per 1,000 for Hispanics and 24 per 1,000 for whites.

Advocates of alternatives to prison said the continuing decline in crime is a strong argument against building prisons. The nation's jail and prison population swelled to more than 2 million last year, an all-time high.

But supporters of incarceration said the decline is a result of locking people up longer.

"Heavier punishment means fewer people choose to commit crimes, and more criminals in prison means fewer on the streets committing crimes," said Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Sacramento.

Answer 9

I blame it on the parents.

Answer 10

moral decline