Crime Rates; Deep Roots 

Coming Monday: What might uproot them

     Your blogger, in high school then college during the 1950s, enjoyed a relatively safe life. A few times I hitchhiked the 200 miles to and from college - to save Dad money, which was precious back then. (Mom did not approve).  

     Then came the 1960s, when blacks understandably began to assert themselves. But inclusion wasn't the reason crime rates climbed and climbed some more. 

     Today's violent crime "would have been alarming in the 1950s," writes Timothy Lamer in WORLD magazine. Every time period has its blind spots and problems, and the 1950s were no different, he says. But Americans didn't shoot, stab, rape and rob each other nearly as much as today. 

     Violent crime rate more than quadrupled over 30 years. At the turn of the century, violent crime fell somewhat as police and incarceration took effect. But 2019 crime rates were still double the 1960 level. Something went terribly wrong, and we haven't recovered.  

     Mr. Lamer claims part answer is the sexual revolution and the decline of two-parent families. Births to unmarried women went from 5% in 1960 to 40% now. So, what caused the decline in two-parent families? In part, welfare programs took the place of fathers as providers. 

     Something else is missing. 

Monday: What is it? 

          Jimmy