I add to the reasons why property crime rates keep dropping.

WSJ notes reasons for the continued drop in crime rates: - increased incarceration - rejection of previous notion that high unemployment necessarily means higher crime - potential victims better at protecting themselves - better policing - 80% drop in lead levels in Americans' blood (bravo to the EPA!) - decreased cocaine use - increased abortion reduced numbers of children most likely to commit crimes (q.v. controversial research cited in "Freakonomics") HERE'S MY ADDITIONAL REASON (at least regarding "property crimes"): Tech goods dropped in price. Consider this: in 1980, a stereo or VCR cost $300+ and that amount would be like $800 today. Whereas the modern equivalents of those devices are 1/10th the price. And expensive modern TVs are just too big to getaway with in a practical way. Relatively speaking, it's simply tougher for a modern burglar to steal valuable things that can be easily resold. Just my quick little "brainstorm". I could easily be proven wrong on this. ------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: My favorite part of the article... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576345553135009870.html There may also be a medical reason for the decline in crime. For decades, doctors have known that children with lots of lead in their blood are much more likely to be aggressive, violent and delinquent. In 1974, the Environmental Protection Agency required oil companies to stop putting lead in gasoline. At the same time, lead in paint was banned for any new home (though old buildings still have lead paint, which children can absorb). Tests have shown that the amount of lead in Americans' blood fell by four-fifths between 1975 and 1991. A 2007 study by the economist Jessica Wolpaw Reyes contended that the reduction in gasoline lead produced more than half of the decline in violent crime during the 1990s in the U.S. and might bring about greater declines in the future. Another economist, Rick Nevin, has made the same argument for other nations.