Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
there are great variations between cities, it is remarkable that the annual number
of murders in New York City declined from 2245 in 1990, to 536 in 2010. More
generally, crime in cities in America has fallen by almost a third since 1990 and
almost two-thirds in the biggest cities, although not all have seen this drop. This
trend seems common in most western countries, although one must be cognizant of
variations in the timing between countries. For example the fall in the United States
began around 1991, whereas it was 5 years later in Britain. Also there are differ-
ences in the rates of decline, as shown in Fig.
12.2
for three categories of crime in
the G7 countries between 1995 and 2010, although the downward trend is similar
(TE
2013
). Such trends in the developed world contrast with the persistence of
very high crime rates, especially violent ones, in many middle and less developed
countries, as in many parts of Mexico due to the still unsuccessful 'war' against
the drug cartels. Yet one must not be too sanguine about the declines seen in many
crime categories in the past 15 years, since levels are still as high as the 1970s, and
the fear of crime has not decreased in the same way. No consensus has emerged to
Fig. 12.2
Drop in crime: selected categories in G7 countries. (Source: Revised from TE July 20,
2013)
