Framing the Problem
The article “where have all the criminals gone” was written by “Steven Levitt and Stephen Dunbar.” They argue that there is considerable proof to support a connection between abortion and crime falls. Initially, the authors discuss the case and history of abortion in Romania. They argue that a Romanian ruler named Nicolae Ceausescu enforced his resolution on the people by ratifying new regulations to prohibit abortion. Nicolae wanted the population of Romania to escalate.
It is notable that Nicolae was unaware that he denied many adolescent mothers their rights to abort as was the case earlier. Furthermore, Nicolae changed enacted the new guidelines on abortion and expected the people to adhere to the regulations. Therefore, Nicolae infringed on the rights of many adolescent mothers who were not ready to bring up their children. Unfortunately, the children born when Nicolae’s guideline was in force had unique challenges. The youngsters performed disappointingly in school and had fewer accomplishments in employment. Furthermore, the children displayed criminal like traits. Nicolae liked the unborn babies to property saying that they belonged to the whole society.
There was a considerable decline in crime rates in America in the 1990s. However, the notable decline in crime rates was hard to describe using valid methods. Investigators theorized many factors to explain the declines. However, they failed to identify a major reason for those declines. Since the 1990s, America has always outlawed abortion. However, there was considerable proof that the declines in crime rates were connected with abortion. This paper summarizes the article focusing on diverse aspects.
Using Relevant Information
Nicolae warned Romanians that anyone shunning away from having children was a traitor who has neglected the county’s continuity laws. Nicolae’s actions generated worrying consequences. The country many children of different age cohorts who were unwanted by their teenage mothers. The youngsters were unwanted because they were born against the wish of their mothers. Therefore, the teenage mothers failed to care for the youngsters because Nicolae’s law forced them to have them against their desire.
The regulations in Romania at the beginning of the 20th century reflect what was going on in America in the same period. In America, the situation was those teenage mothers who bore unwanted babies had a choice. There have been ongoing debates about this opportunity that mothers of unwanted children enjoy.
The decision to impose childbearing in Romania by Nicolae and subsequent impacts of unwanted children was being reflected in America in later years. In Romania, unwanted children showed criminal like characteristics because they grew up under poor conditions. In the 1990’s crime rates in America declined extensively. However, the reasons for the tremendous decline were not known to the criminology experts. Therefore, crime experts undertook research to understand the reasons. The investigators identified issues as the probable reasons for crimes decline.
Exploring / Interpreting Alternatives
Initially, around 1950s America had relatively high crime rates. Inadequate vaccination services and treatment for curable illnesses resulted in high infant mortality. Furthermore, many children born of teenage mothers died prematurely. The unwanted children were potential criminals. Soldiers returning from World War 1 came with the contagious flu that killed many people. Crime rates, wealth, and employment opportunities escalated progressively. Criminals’ conviction reduced in the 1960s and early 1970s. Judges convicted fewer criminals because they did not want to be labeled racists. Criminal offenders were mainly black people.
From the late 1970s to 2000, America recorded many convictions almost 15 fold. The convictions were majorly on drugs. Therefore, convicts served several years in jail. Around this time, America had over 2 million criminals behind bars. The emerging trends in crimes and subsequent conviction escalated the country’s expenditure on prisons. The country’s spending on keeping criminals behind bars and away from the public. By 1990, criminal activities started reducing extensively in the country.
The notable criminal activities were violent. The balanced reduction of criminal activities caught criminology experts unaware because they could not notice the decline. This is because they believed criminal activities would become unmanageable in the country. Therefore, when criminal trends started declining it contradicted their earlier statements.
It is noteworthy that crime experts mentioned probable explanations for the declining crime rates. The notable explanations provided by the experts included modern law enforcement strategies, efficiency in prisons, eradication, and disabling operations in the drug markets. Furthermore, other explanations included innovative approaches and policies to control firearm sales. The experts cited the improving American economy and a population where many people were growing older.
It is notable that these explanations were not entirely responsible for the new trends. However, escalated use of prisons, a period of jail terms, an increased police presence were the factors that eventually reduced criminal activities. It emerged that these factors accounted for one-third of the decline. Initially, factors that accounted for the rest two-thirds of criminal activity reduction were not explained. However, the factors could only be known 17 years later. The legalization of abortion in America accounted for the two thirds. Indeed, states including Illinois, California, and New York where abortion was legalized much earlier already started experiencing a drop in criminal activities.
The guideline enabled teenage mothers to abort their babies because they were not ready to raise children. Furthermore, the babies conceived by parents who were poor and did not attend school were not born. This is because giving birth to unwanted babies by poor and uneducated adolescent mothers meant that such children were potential criminals. Unwanted children would grow up to become dangerous criminals.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed the connection between declines in criminal activities with the bearing of unwanted children. This history of abortion in Romania and its links to criminal behaviors has been discussed. Romania is a country that originally had laws legalizing abortion. However, when Nicolae assumed power he provided new guidelines that abortion was outlawed. This forced adolescent mothers to keep their unwanted babies.
The young women had not gained appropriate wealth and skills to provide care to babies. Therefore, adolescent mothers raised babies. The babies failed access to appropriate social rights services. They underperformed in school, workplaces, and showed traits of criminals. The relevance of this history to the American case is clearly discussed. America recorded huge fluctuations in the rates of criminal activities due to different factors. Most importantly, the country had recorded very high incidences of transgression acts. The country also registered a significant reduction in crime prevalence during certain periods. Crime experts offered different reasons for the decline of activities.
Their reasoning included inventive policing tactics, prisons effectiveness, breakdown of the drug market, and people were growing older. Furthermore, they suggested that inventive gun control policies, a recovering economy, escalated police presence, and reliance on capital punishment to charge offenders caused the declines. They also mentioned that policies regulating weapons and gun sales contributed to reducing crimes. However, it emerged that controlling unwanted children through legalizing abortion eventually reduced criminal activities in the future.