By Blake Hollingsworth | Staff Writer
Research suggests the U.S. crime rate is on the decline. But does that mean that crime is going away, or is it just changing?
FBI statistics show that the U.S. crime rate has dropped by over 50% since 1990, as of 2023. However, that doesn’t mean crime has disappeared — rather, it has become more concentrated in certain communities due to sociological and psychological circumstances.
Strain theory, a sociological concept, posits that “pressure derived from social factors, such as lack of income or lack of quality education” drives individuals to commit crimes, according to Britannica. Research supports this notion, as communities with strong civic engagement, good schools and stable economies tend to have lower crime rates, Dr. Carson Mencken, chair of the Baylor sociology department said. Conversely, areas with high population turnover, job scarcity and weak social structures see more criminal activity.
Similarly, Dr. Hugh Riley, senior lecturer in the psychology department, said poverty creates stress, uncertainty and a lack of hope. When children grow up in environments filled with financial instability and family struggles, they are more likely to internalize those patterns.
“If you’ve never seen anyone in your life succeed through education or legal work, why would you believe that path is possible for you?” Riley said. “Poverty is a cycle, and crime can feel like a rational response to it.”
This disadvantage particularly impacts adolescents and young adults when it comes to violent crime. In 2023, nearly half of all homicides were committed by individuals under 30, with 18% by those ages 10-19, Mencken said.
“Crime is a young person’s game,” Mencken said. “In many of these communities, young people don’t see a legitimate path to success. If you grow up in an area where crime is normalized, it becomes a reasonable way to make money.”
Additionally, crime is learned, not inherited, according to Mencken and Riley. Mencken said criminal gangs are like “educational systems” where young people learn how to commit crimes just like any other trade. This aligns with social learning theory in psychology, which suggests that people learn new behaviors by observing and imitating others.
“If you want to be a doctor, you go to medical school. If you want to be a criminal, you need to be taught how to break into a house, avoid security systems and get away with it,” Mencken said. “That happens through gangs, prison or growing up around crime.”
Additionally, Riley said that childhood trauma also plays a major role; witnessing domestic violence or substance abuse at home can make aggression and crime seem like normal coping mechanisms.
“[The child] may think [domestic violence is] the way marriage works … He’s only five, so he doesn’t have a wife yet, but when he’s 25 and does, he may very well act on what he’s observed.”
Riley said one misconception regarding crime is that those with mental illnesses commit crime at higher rates. However, poor mental health support and lack of proper police training often result in unnecessary criminalization, Riley said.
“Our system isn’t built to support people struggling with mental health issues,” Riley said. “Many of them end up in the criminal justice system when what they really need is treatment.”
To address these root factors of crime, Mencken said the solution is not more policing, but rather investing in education, economic development and mental health resources that could have a greater long-term impact than strict punishments.
“We spend so much money on prisons, but not enough on preventing crime in the first place,” Mencken said. “If we improved schools and created better job opportunities, we’d see crime rates drop significantly.”
