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Australia has Experienced One of the Most Astonishing Falls in Crime Ever Recorded by Any Country
Since 2000 crime rates in Australia have fallen dramatically, with forms of theft falling by 70% and murder by 50%.
International
If the old newsroom adage of “if it bleeds, it leads,” is true in Australia, then Aussie journalists will need to find something else to write about, as the country has experienced one of the most dramatic and precipitous falls in crime rates seen in the developed world.
Since 2001, break-ins have fallen by 68%, motor vehicle theft by 70%, robbery by 71%, attempted murder by 70%, and murder rates by 50%, while overall homicide including manslaughter plummeted by 59%.
A comprehensive report in the Sydney Morning Herald gives us the cheerful news, while also attempting to explain this across-the-board bettering of society.
Possible reasons for the declines include less alcohol consumption among young people, improvements in the economy and lower unemployment, and improved access to better safety technology in cars and homes.
Furthermore, the shrinkage in black and grey markets have created a greater risk in dealing with stolen goods.
In 2000 this wasn’t always the case, and a book published by Australian social scientists called The Vanishing Criminal bears witness. Rising crime rates were the norm, like other English-speaking nations, in the 70s and 80s.
An international crime statistics survey in 2000 of 25 countries showed that Australia had the second-highest rate of car theft, the highest rate of burglary, the highest rate of contact crime—covering robbery, sexual assault, and assault with force—and the highest overall level of crime victimization, the authors say.