Kieran Healy, a sociologist at Duke
University, made this graph of
“deaths due to assault” in the United
States and other developed countries. We are
a clear outlier. As Healy writes, “The most striking features of the data are
(1) how much more violent the U.S.
is than other OECD countries (except possibly Estonia
and Mexico, not shown here),
and (2) the degree of change—and recently, decline—there has been in the U.S.
time series considered by itself.”
++++++++++++++++
There have been several speculations as to why violent deaths have gone down in the USA since 1990. We do have more people in jail, but the vast majority of them are there for non-violent petty drug crimes. Abortions were legalized in the 1970's, thereby reducing the number of children who grew up unwanted, uncared for and unloved. There has been speculation that the reduction of lead in our young adults bodies is the responsible factor. No one knows for sure. But the increase in guns did not cause this, since the increase in guns did not take off until the 2000s, and did not REALLY take off until 2008. This graph only covers up to 2010. It does not cover 2011. My suspicion is that violent deaths are again on the rise in the USA, at least in the big cities.
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