The Murder Rate Is Suddenly Falling

[Johnny2X2X]

8. Social Media

By all stats, crime was way worse in the 70s, 80s, and 90s than it is today. This is across all types of crimes. You wouldn't know it though because apps like Nextdoor and Facebook are sounding boards for every petty crime to get attention in a community.

I was a paper boy in the mid 80s, had a huge route, 120 houses. Talking to my customers weekly or monthly (we collected in person), I heard about endless petty crimes and break ins. Someones shed, garage, or basement was always getting broke into. Someone's tools, bikes, or pool supplies were always gettting stolen. If Nextdoor was around back then, it would have been insane. And our neighborhood was fine, very safe overall.

People have this idea that there's a crime wave when crime is near 50 year lows across the board. People see modest 5% spikes as a wave when we're still down 60% from the peaks of previous decades. It's like we move from 100 to 30 and a bump back up to 35 is seen as a crime wave.