all trends, the two countries showed the same re-
gional trends in regard to their eastern and western
areas, with the highest crime rates in the west and
the lowest in the east. One dissimilarity between the
two nations was that Canada’s cities had lower rates
of homicide than did U.S. cities.
Search for Causes Criminologists have studied
the decline in crime rates that began in 1991, trying
to determine what caused or contributed to it. Be-
cause the decline occurred in the two contiguous
countries at the same time, some researchers have
looked for similarities in social factors in the two
locations.
Criminologists studying Canada have concluded
that some of the crime committed in that country is
related to such factors as family breakdown, poor
parenting, poverty, moral and religious decline, the
ease of obtaining guns, lack of discipline, and le-
niency in the law. Some of those same factors have
been blamed for increasing crime in the United
States. Particularly in the United States, the abuse of
illicit drugs constitutes one of the biggest factors in-
fluencing crime rates. The U.S. government at-
tempted to respond to that problem in the 1980’s by
creating the “war on drugs.”
Experts have studied the social changes that oc-
curred in the 1990’s in Canada and the United States
to try to isolate the factors that may have caused or at
least contributed to the drops in crime rates that
were seen in the two countries. These factors in-
cluded an improving economy, innovations in polic-
ing, changes in gun control laws, increased incarcer-
ation of offenders, changes in drug use, and shifting
demographics.
The Economy Economic trends are often associ-
ated with crime levels. Varied theories of the causes
of crime posit that a healthy economy, with its avail-
ability of jobs, is related to decreases in crime. Dur-
ing the 1990’s, the economy was very strong and
growing in the United States, unlike in Canada. In-
flation rates were stable in Canada during the de-
cade, however, and the nation experienced some
economic growth, which resulted in a decrease in
unemployment.
The differences in economic growth in the two
countries during the period have served to confuse
analyses concerning crime rates. Theoretically, if a
strong economy is a major factor in the decline of
crime, the robust economy in the United States dur-
ing the 1990’s should have meant a larger drop in
that country’s crime rate and a smaller drop in Can-
ada’s, given that the latter’s economic growth dur-
ing the period was somewhat lackluster.
Policing During the 1990’s, community-oriented
policing, in which law-enforcement agencies work to
engage community members in addressing the228 Crime The Nineties in America
United States Crime Rates Per 100,000 Inhabitants, 1990-1999Year PopulationAll
Crimes Violent Property MurderForcible
Rape RobberyAggravated
Assault Burglary LarcenyVehicle
Theft
1990 248,709,873 5,820.3 731.8 5,088.5 9.4 41.2 257.0 424.1 1,235.9 3,194.8 657.8
1991 252,177,000 5,897.8 758.1 5,139.7 9.8 42.3 272.7 433.3 1,252.0 3,228.8 659.0
1992 255,082,000 5,660.2 757.5 4,902.7 9.3 42.8 263.6 441.8 1,168.2 3,103.0 631.5
1993 257,908,000 5,484.4 746.8 4,737.6 9.5 41.1 255.9 440.3 1,099.2 3,032.4 606.1
1994 260,341,000 5,373.5 713.6 4,660.0 9.0 39.3 237.7 427.6 1,042.0 3,026.7 591.3
1995 262,755,000 5,275.9 684.6 4,591.3 8.2 37.1 220.9 418.3 987.1 3,043.8 560.4
1996 265,284,000 5,086.6 636.5 4,450.1 7.4 36.3 201.9 390.9 944.8 2,979.7 525.6
1997 267,637,000 4,930.0 611.3 4,318.7 6.8 35.9 186.3 382.3 919.4 2,893.4 506.0
1998 270,296,000 4,619.3 567.5 4,051.8 6.3 34.5 165.4 361.3 863.0 2,729.0 459.8
1999 272,691,000 4,266.8 524.7 3,742.1 5.7 32.7 150.2 336.1 770.0 2,551.4 420.7
Source:Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports and the Disaster Center.