How come back in the old days there was hardley any crime, but now in todays society there is violence?

Answer 1

what old days are you talking about? there has always been alot of crime, its just now we hear/know about it more, due to our communication abilities,,, also , some things that are crimes now were never even dealt with in the past, like child abuse, rape etc

Answer 2

First of all, I think in the old days there was a ton of crime but a little less than now. It seemed a lot less because they didn't have all the media coverage. Also, certain news stations get ratings higher by reporting more violence. A TV station in Miami one year actually reported more crime, while the reality was there was less crime committed in the very same time period. That said, our society has deteriorated a lot in the past 50 years. My thought is that drugs are related. Drug use has become more widespread and people on drugs do things that straight people would never do. The personality changes, the addiction takes hold and the mind works differently. People also seem more materialistic nowadays. I blame a lot on bad parenting too. People want to give their kids everything. Reality check here... you can give your kids everything but you have to make them do work around the house or something to earn things. Handing them things teaches them nothing and what favor is that? How will they survive in the world when mommy and daddy are in their graves? Teach them work ethic, consideration of others, the value of a dollar.

Answer 3

What "old days" are you referring to? If history teaches us anything, it's that human beings have the potential to be among the most violent creatures on the planet.

But despite what you might hear, the world actually isn't that dangerous of a place. I blame the news for repeatedly funneling horror into our awareness, which has the effect of making us think crime and violence are more common than is actually the case. This is called the "availability heuristic" and it leads to a distorted view of reality.

When we were kids, we were taught to "never talk to strangers" out of the unlikely fear that we might be kidnapped or victimized. But did this really teach us to be safer, or did it just make us paranoid? If there is more crime and violence in society than 30, 40, or 50 years ago, could it have something to do with how disconnected from one another we've become? When I was a child I knew the names of all my neighbors, but I can't say that anymore.

To those who point to the absence of God in our lives, I might point out that the Bible is one of the most violent books ever written. The God of the Old Testament was capriciously cruel, homicidal, genocidal, infanticidal, and generally a very unpleasant character. Indeed, many western European countries are less religious than we are, and don't have nearly the magnitude of social problems that we do. (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html)

Finally, no, our laws do not "coddle" criminals. (Anyone who would say this has obviously never been to jail.) However, law enforcement might have more time and resources to devote to apprehending truly dangerous offenders if they stopped this ridiculous war on drugs. Prohibition always fails and always makes more criminals than it puts away. Because the vast majority of people in prison are in there for drug or petty property offenses, I'm pretty sure we could release 3/4 of them and not see a significant increase in violent crime.

Answer 4

Maybe there was just the same amount of crime but it was harder for the world to find out, now everybody has access to the media in one way or another, we have televisions, newspapers, radios, internet, or we can phone each other and meet up with people half way across the world. I think we have just the same amount of crime but we just know about it easier. Like paedophiles, they have always been around but never reported because it would scare the public.
Also we have more laws that say people are criminals, in the 18th century if a man beat up his wife and his children and his dog it would all be fine, but now we have so many new laws that it has all been made illegal. If I were to take my three dogs out and happened to come across a fox then I could be arrested for fox hunting and be branded a criminal. (Here in Britain anyway)

Answer 5

Last semester we were discussing that in history class at my college. My teacher brought up the argument that there isn't more crime today than in the past, it's just that nowadays we hear about it all the time through the media (television, newspapers, computers, etc). Back then, people didn't have very many forms of communications, so they didn't always know what was going on in terms of crimes being committed. So basically, we probably didn't have less crime, it just seems like we do because we hear about it constantly.

Answer 6

Sorry, but there has always been violence & crime. What do you think the 10 Commandments were all about? Remember Jack the Ripper? The Roman Gladiators & how the Romans thru the Christians to the lions? Viking invasions of other countries?

Humans have always stolen, killed, raped & pilaged. It is unfortunately in our nature. It would appear that there is more violence nowadays as we have better media coverage & it is pushed down our throats 24/7.

Answer 7

Besides the other answers, I don't think anyone had taken into account the population explosion.

The population has doubled from 150 million to 300 million from about 1950 to 2006.

So, if there is twice as much crime now, that means that the crime rate has stayed the same.

Answer 8

Violent crimes happened then just like they do now. I think the difference is because society was not as conditoned to it.

Today's media is alot to blame in my opinion. Every wrong doing is on the televison, in the paper, or on the net. People have become so used to seeing violent crime that it is no longer a terrifying and deeply disturbing event. It's just another everyday activity, clean your room, make your bed, rape and murder somebody...

Also, video games and movies that are rated for mature audiences and make it into the hands of children too young helps to condition them from an early age and that just carries on into adulthood.

Answer 9

u from earth?
the only old days where there was hardly any crime was in prehistoric times when there was no law or society code, so nothing was illegal.
the population now is higher than ever so more people to be in crime, and better media coverage makes stuff like murder on the other continents matter as much as at home, compared to about 60 yrs ago when no one gave a damn who killed or raped whoever elsewhere.
but its safer now than ever, not worse, just not safe enough yet.

Answer 10

Depends what you mean by the "old days." I think there are two answers. First, there was crime and violence in the "old days," but you were too young to recognize it. We all tend - myself included - to look back on the past as the good old days; but in reality it was not so.

The second answer is that - pertaining to western society - I believe it is clear that with the loss of Biblical foundations, society is suffering. With the loss of any semblance of Christian foundations in Europe, for example, Jews are coming in for some tough times, tougher than any time since the last time there was complete loss of Christian influence (i.e. under the Nazis).

Answer 11

Have you ever heard of Al Capone? Actually crime rates are falling where as in the 60's and 70's crime rates were much higher. Some economist have tied the falling crime rates with the legalization of abortion. They speculate that many of the people that would be committing crimes today simply haven't been born.