Less Young, Less Crime

One other thing I wanted to highlight from the Tribune editorial I talked about yesterday was one of the reasons they listed for the decrease in crime rates. It is one of the reasons I gave to a Pioneer Press reporter last week for a story they will be doing in their paper this Thursday.

When the number of individuals in a community who are in their later teens and early adulthood decreases the amount of crime (particularly violent crime) goes down. This is the demographic most involved in violent crime and, really, when you think about it it just makes sense. So as our population ages and we have fewer “at risk” individuals the stats are going to look better.

Violent crime still happens and is just as violent (if not, perhaps, just a bit more violent), but the totals are less. This does not mean we can quit trying to improve that number and its impact on people, but perhaps it allows us to react with more thought and base our “actions” on evidenced interventions, instead of just having to “do something” because the fabric of society is unraveling.