Why Is The Crime Rate Dropping?

Who can forget the profound statement made by the former mayor of Washington, DC, Marion Barry, when he said, "Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country."  Criminologists  do tend to divide lawbreaking into crimes against property and crimes against people.  It is interesting to note that since the early 1990s, both have been steadily dropping.  Finally, a happy statistic.  But it is a head scratcher.  What are the reasons for the drop?

Is it stronger gun control laws?  Is it larger police departments?  Is it improved policing with techniques like DNA testing?  Is it a better economy?  Is it a dampening of the crack-cocaine market? Perhaps an aging population?  To some extent, all of these MAY have some influence.  But economist Steven Levitt has the most intriguing theory -- Roe v. Wade....the legalization of abortion.  It began with 20 year old Norma McCorvey.  All she wanted was to end her pregnancy.  But in Texas, as in most states at the time,  abortion was illegal.  Various groups with a cause made McCorvey the lead defendant to legalize abortion.  The defendant was Henry Wade, the Dallas County district attorney.  McCorvey's name had been disguised as Jane Roe, and on January 22, 1973, the court ruled in favor of Ms. Roe, allowing legalized abortion throughout the country.  By that time it was far too late for McCorvey/Roe to have her abortion.  She ultimately gave birth and put her child up for adoption.  Ironically, years later she would renounce her allegiance to legalized abortion and became a pro-life activist.

I'm sure you see where this is leading.  Levitt's thesis is that a child born in an adverse family environment is far more likely than other children to become a criminal.  Exactly 20 years after Roe v. Wade, when the pool of potential criminals had dramatically shrunk, the soaring crime rate took a sudden dip downward, and has continued to this day.  Can we definitively say that Levitt was right?  Perhaps, but the only way we could really confirm his thesis is if we banned abortion, then 20 years hence monitored to see if the crime rate started to spike again.  But waiting 2 decades for an answer requires a lot of patience.  Ergo, it is best to keep an open mind to all possibilities.  On a personal note, I am against the aborting of a human life.  But that is no reason to ignore all possibilities in explaining the world around us.