Notes

The rise and fall of violent crime in America. What goes up doesn’t always come down. In the 1960s, the American murder rate shot up, ultimately doubling between 1960 and 1975—and stayed high throughout the 1980s. There’s no gravitational force keeping this rate from soaring; once it rises, it could keep rising. So, when the U.S. murder rate increased by 29 percent between 2019 and 2020, it was reasonable to fear an ongoing upward trend.

But that’s not what happened. The murder rate fell by 13 percent last year—and then by 26 percent in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Why? Today, Tracey Meares explores what we know, and still don't know, about it.

—Gustav Jönsson