22 September, 2013

Mass Shootings Are on the Rise—and Falling | TIME.com

Mass Shootings Are on the Rise—and Falling | TIME.com: Speaking of statistics, here are a few others that ought to be relevant to policy makers:

*Homicide rates in the United States are lower now than they have been at almost any time in the last century, having fallen by more than 50% since 1991.

*Mass shootings, even using the very broad definition employed by the FBI, make up a tiny fraction of homicides – usually less than one percent.

*No one knows why homicide rates doubled between 1960 and 1980, or why they’ve declined just as sharply in the years since. Many theories have been suggested, including the aging of the population, high rates of incarceration, legalized abortion, and even declines in the percentage of lead in the environment (the latter, improbable-sounding, hypothesis has some surprisingly strong statistical support). But criminology is very far from an exact science, and these various theories remain little more than educated guesses.