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Per statistics from the Decade of the 2000's, provided in thread, serial killings dropped by 300%, in the US. Why?
Lead was removed from the environment, higher overall intelligence and less violent tendencies were inevitable, as a result crime of all types have gone down, dramatically. 9%  9%  [ 2 ]
Law Enforcement became much more efficient, in preventing serial killings. 17%  17%  [ 4 ]
The serial killers have gotten better at hiding their crimes. 22%  22%  [ 5 ]
Who needs to engage in actual serial killing, when an unlimited amount of free porn/violence, is available, with a Google search, to satisfy most any vicarious need. 35%  35%  [ 8 ]
Other. Please comment in thread. 17%  17%  [ 4 ]
Total votes : 23

Oodain
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14 Jan 2012, 9:06 am

aghogday wrote:
blauSamstag wrote:
You forgot CompStat.

Police forces committed themselves to an unsustainable year-over-year decrease in crime rates, and have resorted to falsifying documents to make it look like they succeeded.


Thanks for bringing that up. It reminds me of the rigorous requirements of probation officer's in my state. I remember the big push toward total quality leadership in the military back in the 80's, it didn't take long to fizzle out, then came Metrics in the 2000's.

Any way to squeeze the blood out of the turnip has become acceptable, at the expense of human beings, and mental health, pretty much society wide.

I that could, definitely be a factor as well.

And no doubt, from the stress of it all, is having some impact as well in keeping birthrates from going up.


that the birth rate is low is a brillinant thing in the modern world,
we shouldnt strive towards increasing it or its own sake.


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JakobVirgil
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14 Jan 2012, 10:38 am

maybe it was a fad.
young sociopaths of the 70's became serial killers.
the new ones do school shootings, join the military or run for congress.


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peebo
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14 Jan 2012, 11:28 am

or join the local constabulary, perhaps?

http://pathwhisperer.wordpress.com/2011 ... -the-nypd/


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pandabear
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14 Jan 2012, 12:32 pm

I voted for reduced lead exposure. It was lead exposure that caused violence in Ancient Rome.



aghogday
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14 Jan 2012, 3:48 pm

In regard to law enforcement, and vigilance on the part of the public:

The impact of 9/11 and resulting homeland security, mass vigilance against an actual threat on our own soil, for the first time, made a significant difference in both defense and offense for the potential of a terrorist or predator.

And, the internet is a great source for this.

If someone starts talking crazy, they often do receive attention from some authority, because of the level of monitoring of all types of communication for potential threats from terrorists.

Maybe the biggest impact of this per real results has been protecting the US, from potential terrorists and predators from within the borders. It still happens, but we haven't had another Timothy McVeigh, managing destruction in a widespread effort.



aghogday
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14 Jan 2012, 4:01 pm

pandabear wrote:
I voted for reduced lead exposure. It was lead exposure that caused violence in Ancient Rome.


That really is considered a serious component in the general reduction of crime in the US, per Wiki. It's amazing how much lead one was exposed to, just in traffic, before, it was required removed from fuel.

Airconditioning in a car was a luxury in those days, 4 window airconditioning and the smells of carbon emissions were a daily reality.

I can still remember jogging in the city, being overwhelmed by it, accepting it as a normal part of the environment. As many complaints as there are about the EPA, if one lived back in those days, one can really appreciate what kind of difference that agency has made in overall quality of life.

Human beings have put progress ahead of health in so many ways. I guess it's just part of our nature, to want the short term benefit, ahead of the long term danger.



Asp-Z
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14 Jan 2012, 4:51 pm

Dexter killed them all.



fraac
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aghogday
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14 Jan 2012, 9:20 pm

fraac wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalized_abortion_and_crime_effect


The authors of that theory suggest that Legalized abortion could have accounted for 50 percent of the drop in the general crime rate that started in 1991, however the number of serial killers in the 90's were almost the same as they were in the 70's, with the severe drop coming in the 2000's.

Also in their theory of legalized abortion, affecting the reduction in the general crime rate, they also suggest that the end of the crack wars, increased prison populations, and increased numbers of police, played a part as well.

Interestingly, another study suggested that the general crime rate has gone down in part due to video games, simply because youth were off the streets, and engaging in an alternate activity inside, other than crime. Ironically, the study focused on violent video games, which in the past have been suggested to increase violent crime, particularly after the Columbine Incident.

It makes sense to me that legalized abortion would impact crime levels. The highest rates are among the impoverished, and statistically child abuse is higher among the impoverished, a factor generally associated with crime statistics.

Not sure if it is 50%, it appears that many other factors are available that may play a part as well.

As bad as the economy is now in the US, unemployment, etc., it would seem that crime might go up, so there must be many factors present now, that weren't present in the past, some likely unknown.



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15 Jan 2012, 1:29 am

This internet stuff as it relates to human behavior is a new area of research, that in the last year has resulted in some interesting findings.

Per research and brain scans of young individuals addicted to online gaming, structural differences in the brain have been evidenced, similiar to individuals addicted to cocaine.

The impact of online pornography has been suggested to be even more powerful, in this phenomenon, although not studied with brain scans yet, as addiction to online gaming has.

Per the individuals that did the research on legalized abortion, and the drop in crime rate, one of the factors they cited in their research to have a measurable impact on the decrease in crime were the end of the crack wars. People would do anything to obtain their next fix.

In china and south korea where online videogaming is like a national sport, some individuals have killed their parents when their rights to play video games were taken away. In other circumstances it's close to free, online, so there is no reason to commit a crime to obtain it, it is readily available, and there is an endless supply.

Not likely that the development of computers and the internet in general are reducing the crime rate, but if online video gaming and pornography is as powerful an addictive influence, as current research suggests, those byproducts of computers and the internet, may have taken the place of many other activities for individuals, including crime.

In appears that online videogaming and online pornography, may actually impact the brain the same as opiates do, resulting in similiar results both behaviorally and physiologically.

Potentially truly a cheap and affordable opiate for the masses, unlike any other since the introduction of coca-cola, with real ingredients of cocaine, caffeine, and a huge dose of sugar. Per recent research on food addiction cited below, sugar and fats, have the same opiate effect on the brain as cocaine does, it's just not as concentrated and powerful.


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/201106/ominous-news-porn-users-internet-addiction-atrophies-brains

Quote:
Behavioral addictions

The study of non-drug addictions is still quite new. Yet already experts have uncovered decisive physical evidence that today's extreme versions of natural rewards can change the brain in ways that drugs do. "Natural rewards" are activities/substances that entice us because they enhanced our ancestors' survival, or the survival of their genes.

Moreover, it's not just a tiny minority with pre-existing disorders who are at risk. Normal, healthy brains can also change.

So far, here's the research scorecard. (Dates indicate when brain-scan research turned up evidence of the last of the three key addiction-related brain changes.)

•Pathological gambling - studied for 10 years, and added to the upcoming DSM-5 as an addiction (2010)
•Food addiction - (2010)
•Internet video-gaming addiction - (2011)
•Internet porn addiction - still not studied via brain scans



donnie_darko
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15 Jan 2012, 6:24 am

I'm gonna say lead. But I think it's more complicated than that. I think it's also just, not to sound callous or anything, but stating an opinion, kind of gone out of style. People aren't really as shocked by serial killers as they used to be. It's more like a 60s/70s/80s/early 90s thing IMO.



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15 Jan 2012, 6:44 am

Asp-Z wrote:
Dexter killed them all.


More likely they're all at home watching Dexter on Netflix and taking notes. Not that he's a great serial killing role model as far as his technique goes, I cringe whenever he does something like use a cellphone from a kill site as that's just sloppy.


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15 Jan 2012, 6:47 am

Dox47 wrote:
Asp-Z wrote:
Dexter killed them all.


More likely they're all at home watching Dexter on Netflix and taking notes. Not that he's a great serial killing role model as far as his technique goes, I cringe whenever he does something like use a cellphone from a kill site as that's just sloppy.


I don't think Dexter's quite evil enough. He's supposedly a sociopath but it's obvious he's not a real one, as he has a soft spot for kids.



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15 Jan 2012, 6:55 am

donnie_darko wrote:
I don't think Dexter's quite evil enough. He's supposedly a sociopath but it's obvious he's not a real one, as he has a soft spot for kids.


The book version of him was a bit more evil; he only liked children that were damaged like him. It's also not like you can be made into a sociopath rather than being born one either, but the show is entertaining enough that I forgive it these inaccuracies.


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aghogday
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15 Jan 2012, 3:33 pm

donnie_darko wrote:
I'm gonna say lead. But I think it's more complicated than that. I think it's also just, not to sound callous or anything, but stating an opinion, kind of gone out of style. People aren't really as shocked by serial killers as they used to be. It's more like a 60s/70s/80s/early 90s thing IMO.


That's an interesting point. Actually, research among young adults shows that empathy in general has gone down in the last three decades, in a longitudinal university study. Particularly in the last decade.

The military uses some of the same technology as violent video games to desensitize soldiers to violence, from a physiological arousal perspective, to ensure they don't freeze up when comes time to accomplish their mission.

And there is evidence that pornography desensitizes individuals in the same type of way.

Research has shown that there are activities that increase empathy and decrease empathy. Violent movies decrease it and "love stories" increase it.

I agree that people, in general, are less shocked by everything, including serial killing. That is the physiological effect of mass desensitization to the stimulus provided by modern culture.

The vicarious world, in some cases, has exceeded the potential stimulus available in the natural world.

So, if it is affecting the potential victims of serial killing this way, it could be affecting the potential killers in the same way, in some cases. Why do it in real life, every once in a while, when one, now can experience a much greater, unlimited, potential thrill, vicariously, through media.

The gradual crime drop from the 90's likely has many different factors, mentioned in this thread that impact the 300% drop of reported serial killers since the 2000's in some manner. But, to me, beyond homeland security and this new vicarious world, that was never available before, the year 2000 for the masses, I'm not sure what else could account for such an extreme drop, in reported serial killings since the year 2000.

All the other factors mentioned where already in place in the beginning of the decade of the 90's, and the levels of serial killing remained unchanged from the 70's. All the other reported crimes decreased in a consistent gradual manner.

The 300% drop just in the 2000's is really unusual, just as the 300% increase in the 70's, that maintained itself for those three decades was unusual as well.



peebo
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15 Jan 2012, 3:54 pm

Dox47 wrote:
donnie_darko wrote:
It's also not like you can be made into a sociopath rather than being born one either...


this is actually a big point of contention, it's not clear that sociopathy isn't actually environmental in origin.


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