You're listening to an AirWave Media Podcast.

Hello all, Eric Rivenus with the most notorious podcast here.

Each week I interview an author or historian about a historical true crime, tragedy, or disaster.

Subject matter ranges from gunslingers to gilded-age murder, to gangsters, to fires, to pirates,

to wild prison breaks.

I guess it's spring their incredible knowledge directly to you.

Please subscribe to the most notorious on your favorite podcast app, Cheers, and have

a safe tomorrow.

One of the most fascinating and unexplained sociological events in recent American history

is the decline in the crime rate.

It's so obvious, stark, from 1960 to 1980, violent crime soared 270%.

It peaked at 758 violent offenses per 100,000 people in 1991.

Then between 1994 and 2017, the violent crime rate was cut in half.

What was the reason?

Well, among many reasons, Candidate Joe Biden explained the crime bill that was passed

in 1994 with his support, with his partial authorship, worked, and the violent crime

rate was cut in half.

But that 1994 crime bill was as controversial for him as it was helpful for the few audiences.

It's also been controversial for Hillary Clinton and for Bill Clinton.

A little context is necessary.

When you get to the early 1990s, the fear of crime is palpable.

The stats are there, 44% of Americans afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of their

...