Violent crime falls -- the question is why?

The drop in crime seems to be uniform across North America. There are two ways to look at this: first, it may be that the fall is due to an ageing population and there is no reason for the "tough on crime" approach so popular of late, or, second, maybe the "tough on crime" approach is working.

My sense is that the stiffer criminal sanctions are having some effect but the larger part of the fall is from the populations getting older -- older folks commit less crime.

However, and the article below overlooks this, youth crime, especially violent youth crime, is getting worse per capita of youths. Why? Maybe the youth criminal justice system is too weak. Or perhaps the failure of families (and this is very real -- when I was 13 I knew one broken home, 13 year olds today might have a problem finidng a family not spilt up) is the cause.


Violent crime takes a dive

Killings Dropped in 2008. So did attempted murders. Montreal police say their drive to stop street gang crime is having an effect, but criminologists say it's also part of a trend seen across North America

By PAUL CHERRY
January 2, 2009


The list of names on the board is what always catches your eye.

Any visit to the Montreal police major crimes division's headquarters at Place Versailles always causes a person to glance at the white board on which investigators maintain a list of the homicide victims for the year.

Just as in the bestselling book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets - victims' names are written on the large white board in two different coloured markers, with unsolved cases standing out in a brighter colour for all to notice.

But today, there is something reassuring about the length of the list on the board.

With 29 homicides reported on the island of Montreal last year, the squad investigated the lowest number of cases since 1972, the year several police forces on the island were merged to create the Montreal Urban Community police (now known simply as the Montreal police). The previous record low was 35 in 2005. There were 42 homicides reported in 2006 and 41 in 2007.

Full story here: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Violent+crime+takes+dive/1133446/story.html