The United States is currently in the middle of one of the most substantial and widespread declines in violent crime ever seen, with the violent crime rate having fallen more than half since 1991. The phenomenon has been called “utterly mysterious” and has spawned soul searching about what has happened and how it can be sustained.
For now, one prevalent opinion is that the decline has come about because of a “virtuous cycle” in which many small reforms, such as improved policing and community engagement, ultimately begat bigger changes in behavior. The most recent issue of The New Yorker takes this stance in a long article by Adam Gopnik, entitled “The Great Crime Decline,” that reviews NYU sociologist Patrick Sharkey's book Uneasy Peace. Gopnik explores a number of factors that may have contributed to the increasing safety of major urban areas and concludes that “the story of the crime decline is about the wisdom of single steps and small sanities.”
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