What causes violent crime?

Violent Crime Scene

Youth, guns, and violent crime.

Young people are overrepresented as both victims and perpetrators of violence. Indeed, some commentators have suggested that recent cohorts of youth have been composed of "superpredators" who have little regard for human life. The evidence, however, suggests that other factors are responsible for recent increases in youth gun violence. This article analyzes the extent and causes of youth violen...

Neurotoxicity and Violent Crime: Linking Brain Biochemistry, Toxins, and Violent Crime

Social scientists who dismiss evolutionary psychology seem unaware that a revolution in neuroscience and other areas of biology has taken place over the last half-century. The estimate of 83 million Americans taking drugs like Prozac for depression and 11 million children on Ritalin for hyperactivity indicate it is time to reconsider the role of brain chemistry in social behavior and violent be...

Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?∗

What is the short-run impact of media violence on crime? Laboratory experiments in psychology find that exposure to media violence increases aggression. In this paper, we provide field evidence on this question. We exploit variation in violence of blockbuster movies between 1995 and 2002, and study the effect on same-day assaults. We find that violent crime decreases on days with higher theater...

Long-Term Historical Trends in Violent Crime

Research on the history of crime from the thirteenth century until the end of the twentieth has burgeoned and has greatly increased understanding of historical trends in crime and crime control. Serious interpersonal violence decreased remarkably in Europe between the mid-sixteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Different long-term trajectories in the decline of homicide can be distinguishe...