NCJ Number
69030
Date Published
1979
Length
22 pages
Annotation
AMERICA'S EXPERIENCE OF VIOLENT CRIME IS COMPARED WITH WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN OTHER WESTERN SOCIETIES IN THE RECENT AND MORE DISTANT PAST, AND SEVERAL EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME INCREASES IN THE 1960'S AND 1970'S ARE GIVEN.
Abstract
BEGINNING WITH MEDIEVAL ENGLAND, WHERE 13TH-CENTURY RECORDS SHOWED MURDEROUS BRAWLS AND VIOLENT DEATHS TO BE EVERYDAY OCCURRENCES, THE ARTICLE TRACES THE GROWTH OF THE MODERN SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND THE DECLINE OF SERIOUS CRIME WHICH REACHED ITS LOWEST RECORDED EBB IN LONDON LATE IN THE 1920'S. TWO SIGNIFICANT PATTERNS IN ENGLISH HISTORICAL EVIDENCE, THE LONG-RUN DECLINE IN INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE AND THE SHORT-RUN PEAKS IN SERIOUS CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS AND PROPERTY ARE NOTED. THE DECLINE IN VIOLENCE IS ATTRIBUTED TO THE RESTRAINT OF AGGRESSIVE IMPULSES AND THE ACCEPTANCE OF HUMANISTIC VALUES; OFFENSES SUCH AS BURGLARY, FRAUD, AND PETTY THEFT, HOWEVER, ARE SEEN AS VARYING WITH ECONOMIC NECESSITY AND OPPORTUNITY. THE PROBLEMS OF ESTABLISHING GOOD, COMPARABLE DATA ON CRIME PATTERNS AND TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE DISCUSSED, AND CRIME WAVES IN URBAN U.S. CITIES SUCH AS BOSTON ARE DESCRIBED. THE POSTWAR PHENOMENON OF THE NEAR-UNIVERSALITY OF RISING CRIME IN WESTERN SOCIETIES DURING THE 1960'S AND EARLY 1970'S IS ASSESSED, AND SEVERAL CONTRIBUTING SOCIAL FORCES ARE NOTED: MODERNIZATION, OR THE TRANSITION FROM RURAL TO INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY; WAR, AND THE DISORGANIZATION THAT ACCOMPANIES IT; AND THE SIZE OF THE YOUTHFUL POPULATION. OTHER POSSIBLE SOCIAL FORCES INCLUDE AN EMPHASIS ON REVOLUTIONARY WARS AND COUNTERINSURGENCY IN THE 1960'S, VIOLENT ENTERTAINMENT, AND PARTICULAR VALUE CHANGES OF THAT PERIOD. CORRECTIVES TO CRIME WAVES ARE VIEWED AS COMING FROM A REAFFIRMATION OF OLDER MORAL VALUES AND A RETREAT FROM THE INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND DIVERSITY OF BEHAVIOR WHICH FLOWERED IN THE 1960'S. NOTES ARE PROVIDED AND TABULAR DATA AND GRAPHS ON CRIME TRENDS ARE GIVEN.