# Is technology the reason many crimes are declining in prevalance? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 21, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724 "2017-01-21T16:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/21 "2017-01-22T18:23:11Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I think there is also less tolerance for casual violence or more specifically people using violence and it being deemed no big deal. Even in fiction non-criminal, middle class and upper class men in the 50’s and 60’s would often solve disagreements with fist fights. Behavior that today would get you lawsuits and potentially serious jail time. A man might slap a woman around and the police, if called, would not automatically take him to jail unless she was seriously injured. > > The legal consequences of physical violence are a lot more serious than they used to be. Also back in the day men and boys were often expected to know or want to know how to fight, if necessary, as a practical life skill, like changing a tire. Not so much today. I agree, and I’m not necessarily saying that the social tolerance for “manly” fist fights were/are a good or bad thing. I am curious how that relates to street crimes. If my buddy and I have a disagreement, but today we go to small claims court instead of squaring off in the backyard, how does that affect the burglary rate? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/22 "2017-01-22T18:35:48Z")
Yeah, if you want to murder a random stranger in another city for kicks, your odds of getting away with are much better than if you murder somebody you know intimately for semi-rational reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/23 "2017-01-22T18:48:15Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Another small technology factor may be AC. In the link, notice how homicides and aggravated assaults peak in summer (hot temp, more people outdoors and in crowded venues) and bottom out in winter? If you want to benefit from AC in summer, you have to be indoors, preferably remaining in the same location, not out and about… Interestingly air-conditioning in poor households[rose sharply](http://www.heritage.org/~/media/images/reports/2011/07/b2575/b2575_chart5.ashx?w=400&h=533&as=1)in the 90’s just when crime started to fall. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/24 "2017-01-22T18:53:51Z")
Widespread abortions and a reduction in lead in the atmosphere are also considered factors in the declining crime rate. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/25 "2017-01-22T19:35:38Z")
What is the correlation between the reduction in crime and the increasing prison population? Positive, negative, or none? I seem to recall that there was a slight positive correlation, but not enough to explain the crime drop. I suspect it’s an aggregate of effects. Not to hijack the OP, but what has caused the uptick of crime in some places like Chicago? Power vacuum in the underworld? Thanks, Rob ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/26 "2017-01-23T03:07:18Z")
Less aggressive policing is what law enforcement says. There’s always been a tradeoff between crime and civil rights. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/27 "2017-01-23T04:22:34Z")
Yes, I think all those technologies help. Many people get put away for being on someones cellphone. Heres a note - wiretapping. What partly helped put away the mafia was the quality of wiretaps (bugs) kept improving so that they could play them for a jury and let the bad guys implicate themselves. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/28 "2017-01-23T08:26:29Z")
Crime statistics need to be treated with a bit of caution. Whether or not they are reported and counted may depend on other circumstances (e.g., you won’t be able to make an insurance claim without having done so, so property crimes are well reported, but some fair number of assaults and affrays may be treated as a minor scuffle not worth pursuing, or you may be embarrassed to report a rape or sexual crime, so those notoriously went underreported until recently). But in the UK it’s commonly said that technological change has made car theft more difficult, and created many new opportunities for fraud online. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/29 "2017-01-23T17:57:56Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > Interestingly air-conditioning in poor households[rose sharply](http://www.heritage.org/~/media/images/reports/2011/07/b2575/b2575_chart5.ashx?w=400&h=533&as=1)in the 90’s just when crime started to fall. Interestingly, crime started to fall across the globe regardless of social wealth levels, and where air conditioning had not risen. Back to lead in fuel for a better answer. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/30 "2017-01-23T17:59:23Z")
> [@sweeteviljesus](#): > > What is the correlation between the reduction in crime and the increasing prison population? Positive, negative, or none? I seem to recall that there was a slight positive correlation, but not enough to explain the crime drop. I suspect it’s an aggregate of effects. Not to hijack the OP, but what has caused the uptick of crime in some places like Chicago? Power vacuum in the underworld? > > Thanks, > Rob Too provincial. It’s not a USA-centric issue. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/31 "2017-01-23T18:52:35Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > So when something comes along that is a lot of value there might be a spike. When iPhones came out there were a bunch of thefts of them, but since so many folks have at least a cheap smartphone their theft is in decline. > [@Tamerlane](#): > > A little bit of a non-sequitur, but I was watching the 1973 film [Harry in Your Pocket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_in_Your_Pocket) the other day, with James Coburn as a professional pickpocket. In one scene his older partner was lamenting the rise of traceable credit cards with the concomitant decline of fat bankrolls on marks and looking forward to when this new fad would cease. Combining these two points, the fact that smartphones can be locked down (making them useless to a thief) and traced (making them dangerous to a thief) reduces the crime rate you’d otherwise expect from large numbers of people each carrying a multi-hundred-dollar item in their pockets. > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Yes, I think all those technologies help. Many people get put away for being on someones cellphone. > > Heres a note - wiretapping. What partly helped put away the mafia was the quality of wiretaps (bugs) kept improving so that they could play them for a jury and let the bad guys implicate themselves. That’s more likely to be a factor for higher levels of organized crime than for the sort of common street crime the OP seems to be addressing. (It’s getting less likely to be a factor anywhere as cybersecurity improves, but that’s a recent development whose effects, if any, remain to be seen.) ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/32 "2017-01-24T03:12:37Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I suspect the fact that electronics are cheap also helps. If a burglar stole all my electronics he might get $100 at the pawn shop. Maybe $200. And since most burglaries aren’t one man jobs, it’s even harder to justify breaking into houses unless you know there’s good stuff in there, like jewelry. Also look at cars. They are difficult to steal anymore. You cant just open a door with a slim jim and you cant hotwire them. Thieves also used to steal whole engines and you cant do that anymore. At least not quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/33 "2017-01-24T08:57:31Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > To explain the thread title; > > It’s accepted by everyone who isn’t either a) old and grumpy or b) just alarmist and sccared that in most Western countries, crime is down. Violent crime rates - murder, assault, robbery and the like - were insanely high 30, 40 years ago as compared to today. Technology? You’re looking in the wrong direction. Violent crimes are committed by drunk young men. Street crimes fall when young men stay at home and play computer games instead of going out. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/34 "2017-01-24T16:06:16Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Also look at cars. > > They are difficult to steal anymore. You cant just open a door with a slim jim and you cant hotwire them. Thieves also used to steal whole engines and you cant do that anymore. At least not quickly. Anti-theft devices make cars harder to steal, but not impossible. I remember an article in WIRED about how ATD’s can and are defeated by savvy thieves who know the “backdoor” to many ATD’s. The poor car owner has the devil’s own time trying to convince the insurance company that he isn’t pulling a scam. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724/35 "2017-01-24T23:34:29Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Anti-theft devices make cars harder to steal, but not impossible. I remember an article in WIRED about how ATD’s can and are defeated by savvy thieves who know the “backdoor” to many ATD’s. The poor car owner has the devil’s own time trying to convince the insurance company that he isn’t pulling a scam. I think the difference is this: it’s harder to be a successful but not particularly intelligent crook these days. With training, a person without a lot of education could steal a car, just by knowing how to pick a lock and how to hotwire a car. These days the thief has to do lots of research to figure out how to steal a wide variety of car models… or they commit other crimes (stealing the key fob, intimidating someone into giving up the key fob) which makes it easier for the police to catch them. Or picture a mugging. I hope I don’t get mugged, because I carry less than $20 on me (at least in an easy-to-find spot), so a really irate mugger might be displeased and show their displeasure with their fists or something worse. While I use cheques at least monthly, they’re at home. I don’t carry bank statements either (or even print them out). A mugger could still threaten someone into giving up their card and PIN… but the victim could lie about their PIN. The mugger could force the victim into using their card at an ATM and withdrawing the maximum amount… but they have to take more risks and are at greater risk of exposure by doing so. What if the victim says they’ve overdrafted even though they haven’t? What if they lie about their withdrawal limit? What if they bought (or said they bought) an expensive item earlier that day and have (almost) reached their withdrawal limit? Is the crook going to look at the bank screen to confirm these? Aren’t they more likely to put their face on the video camera that way? And they won’t be able to use the card the next day, as I have my card number and phone number at home so I can call the bank as soon as possible and let them know I’ve been mugged. Or a home invasion, which might net more goods but leaves behind a lot of evidence and could end up facing a SWAT team? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-technology-the-reason-many-crimes-are-declining-in-prevalance/777724.md?page=1)