In the chapter “Where
Have All the Criminals Gone?” , Freakonomics’ authors Levitt and Dubner
discuss the crime rate in the 1990’s in America and try to find out what caused
the crime-drop. They mention that other sources credited the drop to innovative
policing strategies, changes in drug markets, tougher gun laws, and a strong
economy, among other things. Dubner and Levitt rule out a majority of the
reasons other sources said caused the crime-drop.
Dubner and
Levitt then raise an interesting topic, when they consider abortion as the main
cause of the crime-drop. The authors allude to Romania’s
1960’s dictator prohibiting abortion, saying that it allowed the birth of
unwanted children which may have led to more criminals and Nicolae Ceausescu
being dethroned. Once Roe v Wade
ruled abortion legal in the United States
in 1973, women were able to avoid giving birth and raising unwanted children.
The authors say that unwanted children tend to grow up in houses with only one
parent or in other bad situations. With to-be mothers having abortions, these
babies that would probably grow up to be criminals weren’t being born.
Abortion is
one of if not the most controversial topics discussed in Freakonomics. Peoples’
views on abortion are always center stage; a prime example would be during
elections. Campaign advertisements today tend to make the opponent look worse
rather than promoting his/her self, and the most common commercials involve the
candidate’s views on abortion and Roe v
Wade.
After
reading Freakonomics, I agree with Levitt and Dubner that the statistics on
abortion directly correlate to the crime-drop in the 90’s. However, I think
that many other factors like the ones I mentioned earlier also played a role in
the drop. I believe that it is very controversial to site only one reason as
the cause to such a complex problem.
Greg i agree with your opinions on the abortion and crime rate correlation. While abortion was definitely the most important factor in the crime drop i do think that the other factors played a role in the drop as well. While thinking about the abortion controversy i forgot about how political campaigns use that as a idea and i liked how you incorporated that into your blog.
ReplyDeleteI think that the relation between abortion and the drop in crime is by far the most controversial topic in freakonomics. Abortion is also one of the most controversial topics in the United States, and, like you said, it is often a major point during an election. I agree that abortion played a large role in the crime drop but that there were many other factors that influenced it.
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