Young minds have been exposed to a relentless hail of violent films and TV programs over the past 10, 20, 30 years and more, so one might expect there to have been a measurable increase in violent crime over the same period.
         And indeed there was, until 1990. It was then that crime and, more important, violent crime began a steady decline. In fact, in a survey released last June, the Justice Department reported that violent crime and property crime were at their lowest levels since the survey began in 1973.
         According to that study, the National Crime Victimization Survey, the overall violent crime rate fell 15 percent from 1999 to 2000, and property crime declined by 10 percent. The previous year's report showed that violent crime dropped 10 percent from 1998 to 1999, and the property crime rate fell 9 percent.
         Despite the plummeting of crime rates during the nineties, violent crime is still staggeringly higher now than it was in 1960. A person today has a roughly 300 percent greater chance of being a victim of violent crime than some 40 years ago.
         In 1996, an individual American's risk of becoming a crime victim was 5.079 percent, and he had a 0.634 percent chance of being victimized by violent crime. But back in 1960, the typical citizen had only a 1.89 percent risk of being a victim of any crime and a 0.161 percent chance of falling victim to violent crime, according to FBI figures.
         The extent of crime in America is manifested by the fact that the United States, with less than 5 percent of the world population, has 25 percent of the world's prison inmates. There are nearly six times as many incarcerated in American jails as there are in the 15 countries that make up the entire European Union. Indeed, the decrease in crime in the nineties may have been due to America's increasing tendency to lock up criminals--and for longer periods. Between 1990 and 1999, the rate of sentenced prisoners increased by 60 percent. At about the same time, the expected sentence for serious crimes increased by 39 percent.
         One glaring effect on American society, however--one not reflected in the crime statistics--is the impact of violent media on the popular culture, which has become coarse, crude, sullen, and brutal under the influence of rap music, video games, and the all-pervasive violent TV programs and films.
--The Editor