After a dramatic upward swing in the 1980s, violent crimes, especially homicide, are falling. Part of the reason is due to the fall in marriages, said Prof Richard Rosenfeld of the University of Missouri, St Louis. Another factor is the rise in incarcerations in jails, which accounts for one fourth of the decline in homicides in the 1990s. He calculated that there must be a net increase of 670 prisoners a year to avert one murder. What we may be seeing in the US is a real and sustained intolerance for unregulated violence.
Historians call it a 'civilising process'.
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