The Saeculum Decoded
A Blog by Neil Howe

Crime Continues to Fall

 Generation X, Millennial  Add comments
Jun 012010
 

One by one, as all of the conventional explanations of changes in the crime rate are contradicted by the evidence—such as the one about how crime goes up when the economy goes bad—the media and criminologists grasp ever more desperately for alternative explanations.  In this article, experts are quoted as saying the decline must be due to better police work… and faster response times.  Right.

I await the day when some enterprising investigative journalist will suggest a link between the last fifteen years of crime reduction with the generational substitution of Millennial (born 1982-200?) for Generation X (born 1961-1981) in the high-crime youth phase of life.  It will happen.  Sometime soon.

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  • http://longgame.org/ Matt Warren

    I'm a gen-Xer and my exposure to Millennials is minimal. Still, the broad feel of the thing (completely unsubstantiated by data) is that the Millennials my wife deals with as a teacher are like night and day when it comes to my recollection of youth.

    Even absent the particulars of the generational framework (your stated cohorts, for example), it would appear that crime rates are broadly cyclical. Like you, I'm interested in some research that does more than scratch the head and go “hmmmm.”

  • http://www.thehourglassblog.blogspot.com/ Eric Lanke

    So you are saying that GenXers are more likely to commit crimes than Millennials?

  • LuMu

    Thoughts on the Freakonomics (Levitt, Steven D. and Dubner, Stephen J.) explanation that it's due to Roe v. Wade?

  • http://bestjobsforfelons.com/ jobs for felons

    I work for a non profit that that find jobs for felons. In my experience, the main determining factor, especially in cases of recidivism is the inability for felons to find decent employment. You can't support a family on minimum wage. Well, that my opinion any way.

   
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