I haven't had a chance to read it. It seemed lengthy, but there are many charts and graphs. I screenshotted the entirety of the article. It looks like it will be a decent read.

What worked?

In short, mass incarceration. At the height of incarceration rates, in 2000, America also saw its lowest rate of violent deaths in recorded history.

Removing criminals from society is the obvious solution, because it obviously works.

But as long as “incarceration” is a 4-letter-word, the violence will continue indefinitely. And on our current trajectory, we could easily end up back in the 1970s.

If it were a four-letter word starting with k it would work 100%.

Lynching as Historical Context

Here’s one additional comparison to think about, given the focus of politicians on passing the Emmett Till Lynching Act in 2022.

During the worst period of lynching, the 1890s:

1.5 per 100k Blacks died by lynching per year

In the 2020s?

31.6 per 100k Blacks die by murder per year

If you want another interesting statistic, European countries in the Middle Ages executed 0.5-2% of the most violent, most criminal portion of their population per year. For centuries. The result was a staggeringly low (by global standards) crime rate because they had substantially decreased the reproduction rate of violent criminals in the population.