Name
Course
Instructor’s Name
Date
Reading Analysis of
“Where have All the Criminals Gone”
Executive summary
This essay gives a summary of chapter 4 of Stephen Leavitt and Steve Dubner’s “Freakonomics.” Chapter 4 of the book reads, “Where have All the Criminals Gone.” The summary utilizes “Steps for Better Thinking” model constructed by Wolcott. This model helps the reader in breaking down complex pieces of literature into simpler bits to facilitate the process of critical thinking. This essay makes the best use of Wolcott’s model given the fact that chapter 4 of “Freakonomics” gives the ideal situation in which the practical aspect of the model can be exploited.
Formulation of the problem
“Where have All the Criminals Gone” tries to construct the primary cause of a drop in crime rates recorded in the 1990s. The chapter considers various causes, but the authors are more inclined towards the assertion that abortion is the primary cause of a decline in crime rates during
…show more content…
According to Leavitt and Dubner, crime rates reached the lowest level in the 1990s, in the history of America. Nonviolent crime rates declined at a rate that had never been witnessed before. The authors gathered data regarding abortion trends after its legalization and noted the surging numbers. On a similar account, they supported their claims using statistical facts collected in five different states that sanctioned abortion before the Roe v. Wade court ruling. From this data, it was observed that states with the most abortion rates in the 1970s experienced lower crime rates compared to states whose abortions were low in the 1970s. However, before the 1980s, there was no any concrete linkage between crime and abortion rates. Therefore, the argument proposed by Leavitt and Dubner are built on a strong correlation between the two variables, which has been statistically and econometrically
Throughout the essay the authors analyzed and interpreted data collected on the many possible factors that may have contributed to the crime drop. However, all the factors were dismissed as being a reasonable factor apart from abortion. Although Levitt and Dubner’s argument is extremely factual and convincing, many readers will disagree, because they cannot get past the emotion and their personal beliefs. The authors believe that the decline in crime was a result of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States. “Between 1988 and 1994, violent crime in the early-legalizing
Through the first chapter of this book the focus was primarily on the notion of controlling crime. The best way to describe crime policy used in this chapter is comparing it to a game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’. This chapter also addresses the causes for decline in America’s
Abortions have been performed for thousands of years. In the 1800s abortions began to be outlawed. The reasons for anti-abortion laws varied for each state. Some people did not want the world to be dominated by newly arrived immigrants. Abortion in the 1800s were very unsafe due to the fact that the doctors had a limited educations and hospitals were not common. The outlawing of abortions from 1880 to 1973 led to many woman attempting illgeal abortions. (add author). Almost two hundred women died from attempting illegal abortions in 1965. Between two hundred thousand and one million illegal abortions were given each year. In states where local laws restrict the availability of abortion, women tend to have the lowest level of education and income. Additionally, in those states, less money goes toawrds education, welfare, fostercare programs, and adoption services. (Anderson, 5).
Levitt and Dubner focus on this correlation in chapter four of Freakonomics. Beginning with Nicolae Ceausescu, the leader of Romania, who made abortion illegal, they identify the ramifications of Ceausescu’s actions that eventually lead to his losing control of Romania. The generation of children who would have been aborted grew up miserable, poor, and less successful than children before them. The opposite is essentially what happened in the United States. Instead of an abortion ban leading to more crime (as in Romania), the legalization of abortion led to a drop in crime. A strong economy, increased gun laws, and the threat of capital punishment were all cited as causes for this sudden decrease in crime, but the authors of the book assert that it was because of abortion becoming legal in Roe v. Wade in 1973. The type of woman to typically have an abortion is unmarried, poor, or a teenager. If the child was born, he would most likely turn to crime at some point in his life as one consequence of his
Levitt, S. D. (2004). Understanding why crime fell in the 1990s: Four factors that explain the
"In 1800 no jurisdiction in the United Sates had enacted any statutes whatsoever on the subject of abortion... Yet by 1900 virtually every jurisdiction in the United States had laws upon its books that proscribed the practice sharply and declared most abortions to be criminal offenses" (Mohr p. VII).
The author begins his ethnography by giving us insight of the crime rate in the 1990s. He described this subject as the “age of drive-by shootings, drug deals gone bad, crack cocaine, and gangsta rap” ( ) that dominated the talk of the time. This type of ideology led our society to believe that we should put massive
Cohen, L. E. & Felson, M. (1979). “Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activities approach,” American Sociological Review 44:588-608.
The first three reasons are about mass incarceration, this is how mass incarceration just doesn’t work. While crime has fallen during the 1980’s, mass incarceration has had nothing to do with it. Its actually had zero effect on crime since the 2000s.
In a 2006 study conducted by the CDC, it was reported that 53-56% of abortions were performed on white women between the ages of 20 and 29. Among the 46 states that provided data consistently during 1996--2006, a total of 835,134 abortions (98.7% of the total) were reported; the abortion rate was 16.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15--44 years, and the abortion ratio was 236 abortions per 1,000 live births. During the previous decade (1997--2006), reported abortion numbers, rates, and ratios decreased 5.7%, 8.8%, and 14.8%, respectively; most of these declines occurred before 2001. During the previous year (2005--2006), the total number of abortions increased 3.1%, and the abortion rate increased 3.2%; the abortion ratio was stable. (CDC, 2009)
Then all of a sudden, instead of going up and up and up, the crime rate began to fall. And fall and fall and fall some more. The crime drop was startling in several respects. It was ubiquitous, with every category of crime in every part of the country. It was persistent, with incremental decreases year after year. And it was entirely unanticipated, especially because the public had been anticipating the opposite...
Could it be that the government’s intervention by legalizing abortion in the Roe v. Wade decision lead to the dramatic reduction in crime? Did the government inadvertently save my life by preventing the birth of criminals? This paper will first explore the generally accepted theories advanced as to why the crime drop has occurred. Secondly, explain the theories behind Levitt and Dubner’s reasoning for the crime drop due to the legalization of abortion. And lastly, explain how researchers have used statistical data to negate Levitt and Dubner’s abortion theory, and assert that the crime drop was due to a confluence of events which when taken as whole all played a role in reducing crime in the United States.
According to CNN (cable news network), since the legality of abortions by the supreme courts in 1973, the number of abortions has increased gradually. The CDC (centers for disease control and prevention) reported 1,292,606 abortions in 1980. The number count continued by millions until the year 2000. Rates began to decrease, but the numbers still remained high. 2009 is the year CDC has recently given reports on the statistics of abortion in the United States. The ratio in that year has been 227 out of 1000 live births. 64% of abortions legally induced were performed at eight or fewer weeks during the gestation period. Women ages 20-29 were the 57.1% who went for an abortion. 51.2 % of the women were white (including Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women) 41.2% of the women were black, and 7.6% of adult females from other races. The top three states with the most abortions were: New York, Florida, and Texas. The statistics shown is inco...
From 1991-2000, statistically there was a dramatic decline in crime nationally. The statistics studied were of all categories of crimes considered serious, including: homicides which decreased by 39%; rape which decreased by 41%; robbery which decreased by 44%; aggravated assault which decreased by 24%; burglary which decreased by 41%; auto theft which decreased by 37%; and larceny which decreased by 23%. The statistics show a range of decline of 23-44%! (United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation 1990, 2000. Uniform Crime Report. Washington, D.C.) The evidence indicates that the benefit of declining crime rates are concentrated on specific groups with...
The U.S. Department of Labor (2011) reported the national average of unemployment for 2008 was 5.8 percent. The rate dramatically increased in 2009 with an average of 9.3 percent and 9.6 percent for 2010. While unemployment rates have increased, the FBI’s preliminary reports for 2010 show that law enforcement agencies across the U.S. have reported a decrease of 6.2 percent in the number of violent crimes for the first 6 months of 2010 when compared to figures reported for the same time in 2009. The violent crime category includes rape, murder, robbery, and aggravated result. The number of property crimes also decreased 2.8 percent when compared to the same time last year. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson decreased 14.6 percent when compared to the same time periods of 2009 (FBI, 2011).