Mystery of the US homicide rate

[Almighty Colin]

Anyone have any idea why the US homicide rate took off from 1904 to 1907 and stayed high? Note that the homicide rate is lower today than it was 90 years ago. The question remains though. Why did it ever take off in the first place and why from 1904-1907?

US Homicide rate (per 100k)

1900 1.2
1901 1.2
1902 1.2
1903 1.1
1904 1.3
1905 2.1
1906 3.9
1907 4.9
1908 4.8
1909 4.2
1910 4.6
1911 5.5
1912 5.4
1913 6.1
1914 6.2
1915 5.9
1916 6.3
1917 6.9
1918 6.5
1919 7.2
1920 6.8
1921 8.1
1922 8
1923 7.8
1924 8.1
1925 8.3
1926 8.4
1927 8.4
1928 8.6
1929 8.4
1930 8.8
1931 9.2
1932 9
1933 9.7
1934 9.5
1935 8.3
1936 8
1937 7.6
1938 6.8
1939 6.4
1940 6.3
1941 6
1942 5.9
1943 5.1
1944 5
1945 5.7
1946 6.4
1947 6.1
1948 5.9
1949 5.4
1950 5.3
1951 4.9
1952 5.2
1953 4.8
1954 4.8
1955 4.5
1956 4.6
1957 4.5
1958 4.5
1959 4.6
1960 4.7
1961 4.7
1962 4.8
1963 4.9
1964 5.1
1965 5.5
1966 5.9
1967 6.8
1968 7.3
1969 7.7
1970 8.3
1971 9.1
1972 9.4
1973 9.7
1974 10.1
1975 9.9
1976 9
1977 9.1
1978 9.2
1979 10
1980 10.7
1981 10.3
1982 9.6
1983 8.6
1984 8.4
1985 8.4
1986 9
1987 8.7
1988 9
1989 9.3
1990 10
1991 10.5
1992 10
1993 10.1
1994 9.6
1995 8.7
1996 7.9
1997 7.4
1998 6.8
1999 5.7

[b]



Last edited by Colin at Oct 1 2003, 05:17 AM