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How has crime been going down despite material conditions getting worse? (hexbear.net)

submitted 8 months ago by CthulhusIntern@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net

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As we all know here, material conditions have progressively been getting worse and worse. Based on pretty much all political theory, crime rates should also be going up with worse material conditions. But they haven't, in fact, crime rates have been going consistently down for the past 30 or so years. Why is that?

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[–] Tabitha@hexbear.net 14 points 8 months ago

Just guessing, but maybe crimes are measured differently now vs historically? Is the decline of crime rates uniform to all districts? Do less-economic crimes like murder get measured and recorded as accurately as someone stealing a loaf of bred to eat? Does access to things like credit cards defer crimes of necessity into debt and bankruptcy? Are the decline in material conditions uniformly distributed? In 1978, the federal government banned consumer uses of lead-based paint. Are crime rates going down because victims of lead paint are retiring from crime in mass?

How do you know crime rates would not go down faster if material conditions improved?