Crime Drop Chapter Summary

The crime drop explanation is the main topic for argument in Chapter 4 and covers a variety of possible reasons for the unexpected decline of crime. Levitt and Dubner go in depth into each individual explanation of the crime drop in the early 1990s by supporting their claims with facts, statistics and studies. Topics such as innovative policing strategies, gun control laws, and the drug market are discussed and argued throughout the chapter. In addition, the chapter goes in depth into the law of abortion and of how it relates to the crime drop. For example, New York and a few other states legalized abortion before any other state, and those specific states showed a decrease in crime before the rest of the country. Levitt explains that if …show more content…
Facts show that it costs approximately $25,000 a year to keep one person kept in prison. In addition, the number of executions in the United States quadrupled between 1980s and the 1990s due to the increased use of capital punishment. There are roughly 1.5 million abortions a year in the United States. A member of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation would have a 7 percent annual chance of dying compared to the 2 percent annual execution rate. Legalization of abortion in the United States lead to the dramatic fall of shotgun marriages and children put up for adoption. Statistics show that the crash of the crack market accounted for roughly 15 percent of the crime drop in the 1990s. Studies in parts of Eastern Europe and in Scandinavia from the 1930s through the 1960s show that an abortion ban would lead to the higher chances of the children becoming criminals in the future. The annual chance of dying due to capital punishment or gang related and the crash of the crack market that lead to roughly 15 percent of crime drop are the most convincing because it shows how much of an impact crack cocaine had on gang neighborhoods and the comparison of the annual chance of dying revealed that going to prison had a lower risk of dying from capital punishment than getting killed on the streets, which lead to the continuation of gangs …show more content…
Overall, the conclusion was very effective because it related back to the introduction where the authors were making their main point and it explained how the law of abortion can impact a region. Chapter 4 is the most intriguing chapter in the book since it covered important topics that are still relevant today such as crime in