NCJ Number
190242
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 88 Issue: 4 Dated: Summer 1998 Pages: 1325-1368
Date Published
1998
Length
44 pages
Annotation
This article examined the size of declining crime rates and compared crime trends in the 1990's to crime trends in the United States since World War II. Trends were examined for different crime types and data sources and for large cities.
Abstract
The time period from 1990 to 1997 represented the closet sustained decline in crime (crime bust) that the United States had experienced in more than 50 years. This review showed that crime rates in the 1990's dropped quickly and the declines affected all street crimes routinely tracked in the United States by the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey. In this article, the stabilization in the legitimacy of political, economic, and family institutions, and the investments in criminal justice, education, and welfare were considered for their applicability as arguments for the decline in U.S. crime rates that occurred during the first 8 years of the 1990's, as well as prior arguments used to explain crime trend changes in the United States after World War II. The article concentrated on the group of offenses known as “street crimes” including, murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, and larceny. They have come to be called “predatory because they involve offenders who “prey” on people or their property. Results indicated that the recent decline in the crime rate in the 1990's was related to the renewed legitimacy of three traditional, and the growing support for three newer social institutions during the last decade of the twentieth century. The declining crime rates may have been produced by increasing trust in political institutions, increasing economic well-being, and growing institutionalization of alternatives to the traditional two-parent American family. In addition, support for criminal justice, welfare, and educational institutions in the 1990's had also been seen as pushing crime rates down. The evidence was strongest for the connection between declining crime rates and increased support for criminal justice institutions, increased economic well-being, and increased support for educational institutions. These results provided promising leads in ongoing efforts to understand the crime rate decline of the 1990's. Tables and graphs