Did abortion lower the crime rate?

by free2beme 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  free2beme

  I was watching a news program the other day, and they were using the idea that abortion has been a huge reason why crime has gone down. These are the reasons they said.

  1. Crime in large cities started decreasing in the 1990's, roughly about 16-18 years after abortion was made legal.

  2. Crime is often done by people between the ages of 16-24

  3. Abortion drops the rate and number of unwanted children being born to single mothers, or to people who do not care about them. Which in general is a statistic shown to be the largest producer of people who grow up to be criminals.

  Now I heard these statistics and the information from both sides saying that they felt it was wrong. Keep in mind, both sides said this, not one. Yet here it is, can it be ignored? These scientist who tracked this information were doing nothing more then collecting data to find a reason. After all, every political figure took credit for the crime rate drop, even though they did not do much. Why not this one?

  What do you think? Is this so wrong it makes you ill or is this something you hear and you think "maybe?"
• 

  TwoBlackBelts

  I read the book 'Freakanomics' that put that idea forward. I'll guarantee that a practising JW could not read that book. It's reasoning and intellectual rigor are beyond reproach. But the kind of inquiring mindset it encourages is anathema to dogma and cultism.

  For any of you trying to deprogram yourselves, it's required reading.
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  EAGLE-1

  A math expert has been posting here.Get them on it.Makes sense to me.
• 

  Forscher

  Now your in my territory!
  I am surprised that the recent reductions in the crime rate were attributed to abortion. despite abortion, the population is still on the rise. Generally the reduction in the crime rate is attrubuted by most experts to two factors, the crackdown on crime in the 1990s with it's increase in penalties, and the aging-out of the baby boomers grandchildren.
  In the late 1980s and the 1990s, there was a demand on the part of the public that something be done about the out-of-control crime rates. I well remember the pissing contest which politicians got into trying to show who was "tougher" on crime. It was the era which brought in the "three-strikes-your out" and civil forfeiture laws. Pepole accused of certain crimes found all their assets siezed, making them unable to pay for good attorneys and reciving much longer sentences to prison when convicted. The whole idea was to incapacitate the criminal by taking him/her of the streets where they could no longer engage in criminal activity. For some unlucky individuals, conviction of two or three felonies was enough to be incarcerated for life, with little or no hope of ever being allowed out again. That was aimed at the career criminals.
  The second influence was the curious phenomenon called aging-out by experts. Generally, juveniles who commit crimes tend to grow-up as they end their teen years and stop their criminal activites. Except a few hard-core individuals, those teens usually go on to live their lives as law abiding citizens. After WWII, vetrans came home and settled into normal lives, they had plenty of babies, a phenomena which was labelled the "baby boom". As they grew up, the bavby boomers produced another bumper crop of babies, and their children did the same thing. As each group went through their lives, the crime rate spiked up as they went through their teens. The crime rate of the 90s was partially due to the third "bump", the grandkids of the baby boomers. They are now aging-out, so the crime rate is going down. Add to that the record number of folks in prison for long terms, nearly two million, and the decline in crime is significant.
  Abortion probably contributes a minor portion to the lowered crime rate, but it is considered very minor as a factor. That is how most crime experts see it right now.
  Forscher
• 

  Berean

  Just like TwoBlackBelts said; this is straight out of “Freakanomics” nothing original here. Plagiarism at the best
  
  My training is Six Sigma, which is statistical analyst. I expect TwoBlackBels knows about this also.
• 

  elliej

  It's reasoning and intellectual rigor are beyond reproach. But the kind of inquiring mindset it encourages is anathema to dogma and cultism.

  Freakonomics was also an extremely interesting and entertaining read. I would recommend it for anyone.
• 

  free2beme

  Couldn't it also be said that with the rise of rap music, came an increase in black on black violence? Meaning, couldn't anything be applied to make a point?
• 

  ballistic

  1. Crime in large cities started decreasing in the 1990's,

  Firstly was abortion legalised throughout the US?

  Also wasn't that around the time they were reporting the New York "three strikes and you're out" and all the toughening up on minor crime? That was how it was reported on English TV.
• 

  Zuko

  This is a great topic.

  I saw the program the other night also and I have to say I always had the same idea about abortion that the program talked about.

  To counter Forscher, where the ideas in your post backed up with a study or are they just your personal views? Your first point about longer prison terms being a deterent is in my opinon not correct. Look at the death penalty. That is the ultimate sentence and yet studys have shown that the threat of it does not decrease crime.

  Your second point does make sence to me, I would not argue that point but think of this. When I was in collage my sociology professor made it quite clear to us that there was a clear link to poverty and crime. The lower the individuals income level the greater the chance they would commit a crime. There was also a link to education. If the government outlawed abortion there is no question in my mind more familys would sink into poverty because they cannot afford to take care of there kids. Therefore you will have more kids living below the poverty level, getting less of an education, and at more risk to turn to crime. So there theory does make sence to me.

  I dont think people are going to stop having sex and aparently most people just cant get it through there head that it feels good with a rubber on too. So there is a need for abortion in this country. I am not in favor of abortion, I personally would not want my wife or girlfriend to get one, but I see the need for abortion.
• 

  Qcmbr

  Yea - just like killing all the people in Harlem would reduce crime there. Killing people by any means will have an impact on crime figures.