Returning to the subject of my previous post “It’s Getting Better All the Time,” I just wanted to share recent news about how the world is getting better:

1. Steady Decline in Major Crime Baffles Experts:

The number of violent crimes in the United States dropped significantly last year, to what appeared to be the lowest rate in nearly 40 years, a development that was considered puzzling partly because it ran counter to the prevailing expectation that crime would increase during a recession.

In all regions, the country appears to be safer. The odds of being murdered or robbed are now less than half of what they were in the early 1990s, when violent crime peaked in the United States. Small towns, especially, are seeing far fewer murders: In cities with populations under 10,000, the number plunged by more than 25 percent last year.

2. Crime Statistics and The Village. As you can see from this chart, homicide rates in the United States have been consistently falling since the 1650s. Contrary to what you might expect from watching shows like “Little House on the Prairie”, murder rates in the 1870s were higher than in the 1970s. There was a spike in murder rates in the 1960s and 1970s, but murder rates have been declining for many years, and are approaching their pre-spike levels from the 1950s.