Crime Down, Some Mystified?

As this article from the Washington Post notes, crime is down but criminologists don’t’ know why.

It could be because of broken windows policing and three strikes sentencing.

And the confusion among criminologists could be because many of them have spent the past several years arguing that the massive increase in imprisonment was not responsible for crime rate drops; and who still ally themselves with the crime-is-caused-by-social-conditions movement.

Crime is primarily caused through the individual decision of the criminal, and that decision is generally based on some experience of successful criminality; or, for most criminals, crime works.

An excerpt from the Washington Post article.

“Violent crime has plummeted in the Washington area and in major cities across the country, a trend criminologists describe as baffling and unexpected.

“The District, New York and Los Angeles are on track for fewer killings this year than in any other year in at least four decades. Boston, San Francisco, Minneapolis and others are also seeing notable reductions in homicides.

"Experts did not see this coming at all," said Andrew Karmen, a criminologist and professor of sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

“In the District and Prince George's County, homicides are down about 17 percent this year.

“Criminologists have different theories about why crime is down so much, although many agree that the common belief that crime is connected to the economy is false.”