"But I went out of business... Crack got a bad name on the streets"

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

The violent crime rate is dropping.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/21/america-serious-crime-rate-plunging

Clearly something is being done right. What's your opinion of the biggest contributing factor or combination of factors?

[Atypical Liberal]

1. An excellent article that explores many avenues.

I tend to believe that most crimes are committed by a relatively small portion of the population, and the fact that we are now putting 4 times as many people in prison as 20 years ago has gone a long way to putting that portion of society out of business.

Additionally, it has disrupted a generation of reproduction of the criminal element of society.

It's interesting to think that abortion may have played a role, but I wonder if women in the segments of society likely to produce criminals could afford abortions?

[iverglas]

2. discussed in GD, posted yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1785346

Since this forum is actually about firearms policy ...