That's funny Riana!
They have a new statistic, 6% less violent crime in 2010.
You'll never guess the reason.
First put any sharp objects down.
Are you ready?
Crime in decline, but why? Low inflation among theories
Aging U.S. population also postulated, while former top cop notes smarter policing
By Miguel LlanosReporter
msnbc.com
updated 1 hour 54 minutes ago
With high unemployment and police departments hit by budget cuts you'd expect more crime, right?
.
But the FBI released statistics Monday that showed the opposite in 2010: Violent crime across the U.S. dropped 6 percent, marking the fourth straight annual decline. Property crime was down for the eighth straight year, falling 2.7 percent.
Within violent crime, robbery fell 10 percent, rape 5 percent, and murder, non-negligent manslaughter and aggravated assault more than 4 percent.
Each type of property crime also decreased. The largest, a 7.4 percent drop, was for motor vehicle thefts. Burglaries fell 2 percent and larceny-thefts 2.4 percent.
Is the reason more criminals behind bars for longer periods? Not likely. "Incarceration rates have been flat and in some states have dropped in recent years, so it's unlikely that's driving the crime downturn," says Richard Rosenfeld, a past president of the American Society of Criminology and a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
So what can explain the continued decline? Several experts weighed in with these possible factors:
An aging U.S. population. "The fasted growing segment of the population are those over 50," notes James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University. And those folks "have the lowest rate of involvement in criminal activity."
Low inflation. Rosenfeld says he's found a tie between inflation and crime. "Crime rates tend to rise during inflationary periods and fall, or experience a slower increase, when the inflation rate drops," he says, and "inflation ran at historically low levels during the recent economic downturn — prices actually decreased in 2009 for the first time in over 50 years."
In contrast, inflation and the crime rate were both high during the recession of the 1970s and early 1980s.
"A key mechanism linking inflation to crime is the price of stolen goods," he adds. "Price increases make cheap, stolen goods more attractive and therefore strengthen incentives for those who supply the underground markets with stolen goods. The reverse occurs when inflation is low."
Moreover, "involvement in property crime is a risk factor for violence" — so that an increase in thefts can translate into more violent crimes, he says.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44578241/
DO SOMETHING!
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