The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

  67. World homicide rate: Krug et al., 2002, p. 10.

  68. Europeans eat with swords: Elias, 1939/2000, p. 107.

  69. Low crime in autocracies and established democracies: LaFree & Tseloni, 2006; Patterson, 2008; O. Patterson, “Jamaica’s bloody democracy,” New York Times, May 26, 2010. Civil war in anocracies: Gleditsch, Hegre, & Strand, 2009; Hegre, Ellingsen, Gates, & Gleditsch, 2001; Marshall & Cole, 2008. Civil war shades into crime: Mueller, 2004a.

  70. Post-decolonization violence in New Guinea: Wiessner, 2006.

  71. Enga proverbs: Wiessner, 2006, p. 179.

  72. Civilizing offensives: Spierenburg, 2008; Wiener, 2004; Wood, 2003, 2004.

  73. Civilizing offensive in New Guinea: Wiessner, 2010.

  74. Vacuous explanations of American violence: see Pinker, 2002, pp. 308–9.

  75. Americans more violent even without guns: Monkkonen, 1989, 2001. Approximately 65 percent of American homicides are committed with firearms, Cook & Moore, 1999, p. 279; U.S. Department of Justice, 2007, Expanded Homicide Data, Table 7, http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_07.html. This means that the American homicide rate without firearms is higher than the total homicide rates of most European countries.

  76. Homicide statistics for countries and regions: See note 66.

  77. Black and white homicide rates: Fox & Zawitz, Homicide trends in the US, 2007.

  78. Race gap in crime surveys: Skogan, 1989, pp. 240–41.

  79. North-South difference not just a black-white difference: Courtwright, 1996, p. 61; Nisbett & Cohen, 1996.

  80. 19th-century American violence: Gurr, 1981; Gurr, 1989a; Monkkonen, 1989, 2001; Roth, 2009.

  81. Irish American homicide: Gurr, 1981, 1989a; Monkkonen, 1989, 2001.

  82. Decline of northeastern urban homicide: Gurr, 1981, 1989a.

  83. History of the race gap in violence: Monkkonen, 2001; Roth, 2009. Increasing black-white homicide gap in New York: Gurr, 1989b, p. 39.

  84. Code of the streets: Anderson, 1999.

  85. Democracy came too early: Spierenburg, 2006.

  86. “the South had a deliberately weak state”: Monkkonen, 2001, p. 157.

  87. Most killings were reasonable: Monkkonen, 1989, p. 94.

  88. Jacksonian justice: quoted in Courtwright, 1996, p. 29.

  89. More violence in the South: Monkkonen, 2001, pp. 156–57; Nisbett & Cohen, 1996; Gurr, 1989a, pp. 53–54, note 74.

  90. Southern culture of honor: Nisbett & Cohen, 1996.

  91. Honor killing versus auto theft: Cohen & Nisbett, 1997.

  92. Insulted southerners: Cohen, Nisbett, Bowdle, & Schwarz, 1996.

  93. Lumping it: Ellickson, 1991. Herding and violence: Chu, Rivera, & Loftin, 2000.

  94. Ox-stunning fisticuffs: Nabokov, 1955/1997, pp. 171–72.

  95. Drunken cowboys: Courtwright, 1996, p. 89.

  96. Homicide rates in the Wild West: Courtwright, 1996, pp. 96–97. Wichita: Roth, 2009, p. 381.

  97. Ineffective justice in the Wild West: Courtwright, 1996, p. 100.

  98. He Called Bill Smith a Liar: Courtwright, 1996, p. 29.

  99. Dirty deck, dirty neck: Courtwright, 1996, p. 92.

  100. Gold rush property rights: Umbeck, 1981, p. 50.

  101. Gomorrah: Courtwright, 1996, pp. 74–75.

  102. Violence is a young man’s game: Daly & Wilson, 1988; Eisner, 2009; Wrangham & Peterson, 1996.

  103. Evolutionary psychology of male violence: Buss, 2005; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Geary, 2010; Gottschall, 2008.

  104. On track to reproductive failure: Daly & Wilson, 1988, p. 163.

  105. Alcohol and violence: Bushman, 1997; Bushman & Cooper, 1990.

  106. Women pacified the West: Courtwright, 1996.

  107. Pacifying effects of marriage: Sampson, Laub, & Wimer, 2006.

  108. Uptick in violence in the 1960s: Eisner, 2003; Eisner, 2008; Fukuyama, 1999; Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985.

  109. Homicide boom: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Fox & Zawitz, 2007.

  110. Black homicide rate: Zahn & McCall, 1999.

  111. Marriage boom: Courtwright, 1996.

  112. Baby boom can’t explain crime boom: Zimring, 2007, pp. 59–60; Skogan, 1989.

  113. Perennial invasion of barbarians: Wilson, 1974, pp. 58–59, quoted in Zimring, 2007, pp. 58–59.

  114. Relative cohort size not enough: Zimring, 2007, pp. 58–59.

  115. Common knowledge and solidarity: Chwe, 2001; Pinker, 2007b, chap. 8.

  116. Informalization in dress and manners: Lieberson, 2000. Informalization in forms of address: Pinker, 2007b, chap. 8.

  117. Decline of trust in institutions: Fukuyama, 1999.

  118. Proletarianization from Arnold Toynbee; defining deviancy down from Daniel Patrick Moynihan; quoted in Charles Murray, “Prole Models,” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 6, 2001.

  119. Timekeeping and self-control: Elias, 1939/2000, p. 380.

  120. Conning the intellectuals: See, e.g., Pinker, 2002, pp. 261–62.

  121. Rape as radical chic: See Brownmiller, 1975, pp. 248–55, and chap. 7, for numerous examples.

  122. Rape as insurrection: Cleaver, 1968/1999, p. 33. See also Brownmiller, 1975, pp. 248–53.

  123. Intelligent and eloquent rapist: Jacket and interior blurbs in Cleaver, 1968/1999.

  124. Retreat of the justice system: Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985, pp. 424–25. See also Zimring, 2007, figure 3.2, p. 47.

  125. Decriminalization of public disorder: Fukuyama, 1999.

  126. Failure to protect African Americans: Kennedy, 1997.

  127. Paranoia about the police: Wilkinson et al., 2009.

  128. Moynihan report: Massey & Sampson, 2009.

  129. Perverse incentives: Fukuyama, 1999; Murray, 1984.

  130. Skepticism of parenting effects: Harris, 1998/2008; Pinker, 2002, chap. 19; Wright & Beaver, 2005.

  131. American homicide rates: FBI Uniform crime reports, 1950–2005, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010b.

  132. Canadian homicide: Gartner, 2009.

  133. European homicide: Eisner, 2008.

  134. Decline in other crimes: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, National crime victimization survey, 1990 and 2000, reported in Zimring, 2007, p. 8.

  135. Cloud beyond the horizon: Quoted in Zimring, 2007, p. 21.

  136. Blood bath: Quoted in Levitt, 2004, p. 169.

  137. Super-predators: Quoted in Levitt, 2004, p. 169.

  138. Gotham City without Batman: Quoted in Gardner, 2010, p. 225.

  139. Smaller crime-prone cohort: Zimring, 2007, pp. 22, 61–62.

  140. Different unemployment trends in Canada and the United States: Zimring, 2007.

  141. Unemployment and violence going in different directions: Eisner, 2008.

  142. Unemployment doesn’t predict violent crime: Zimring, 2007, p. 63; Levitt, 2004; Raphael & Winter-Ebmer, 2001.

  143. “never right to begin with”: Quoted in A. Baker, “In this recession, bad times do not bring more crime (if they ever did),” New York Times, Nov. 30, 2009.

  144. Inequality and violence: Daly, Wilson, & Vasdev, 2001; LaFree, 1999.

  145. Gini index for the United States: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010b.

  146. Inequality may not cause crime: Neumayer, 2003, 2010.

  147. Claim that abortion lowers crime: Donohue & Levitt, 2001.

  148. Abortion one of four causes of crime decline: Levitt, 2004.

  149. Problems for the abortion-crime connection: Joyce, 2004; Lott & Whitley, 2007; Zimring, 2007; Foote & Goetz, 2008; S. Sailer & S. Levitt, “Does abortion prevent crime?” Slate, Aug. 23, 1999, http://www.slate.com/id/33569/entry/33571/. Levitt’s reply: Levitt, 2004; see also his responses to Sailer in Slate.

  150. More at-risk children following Roe v. Wade: Lott & Whitley, 2007; Zimring, 2007.

  151. Women who have abortions more responsible: Joyce, 2004.

  152. Peers trump parents: Harris, 1998/2008, chaps. 9, 12, 13; Wright & Beaver, 2
005.

  153. Wrong age-cohort predictions: Foote & Goetz, 2008; Lott & Whitley, 2007; S. Sailer & S. Levitt, “Does abortion prevent crime?” Slate, Aug. 23, 1999, http://www.slate.com/id/33569/entry/33571/.

  154. Explaining the 1990s crime decline: Blumstein & Wallman, 2006; Eisner, 2008; Levitt, 2004; Zimring, 2007.

  155. American incarceration mania: J. Webb, “Why we must fix our prisons,” Parade, Mar. 29, 2009.

  156. Imprisoned Americans: Zimring, 2007, figure 3.2, p. 47; J. Webb, “Why we must fix our prisons,” Parade, Mar. 29, 2009.

  157. Small number commit many crimes: Wolfgang, Figlio, & Sellin, 1972.

  158. Criminals have low self-control: Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990; Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985.

  159. Deterrence works: Levitt & Miles, 2007; Lott, 2007; Raphael & Stoll, 2007.

  160. Montreal police strike: “City without cops,” Time, Oct. 17, 1969, p. 47; reproduced in Kaplan, 1973, p. 20.

  161. Problems with the imprisonment explanation: Eisner, 2008; Zimring, 2007.

  162. Diminishing returns in imprisonment: Johnson & Raphael, 2006.

  163. Effectiveness of additional police: Levitt, 2004.

  164. Boston policing: F. Butterfield, “In Boston, nothing is something,” New York Times, Nov. 21, 1996; Winship, 2004.

  165. New York policing: MacDonald, 2006.

  166. Broken Windows theory: Wilson & Kelling, 1982.

  167. New York success story: Zimring, 2007; MacDonald, 2006.

  168. Biggest crime prevention achievement in history: Zimring, 2007, p. 201.

  169. Problems with Broken Windows: Levitt, 2004; B. E. Harcourt, “Bratton’s ‘broken windows’: No matter what you’ve heard, the chief’s policing method wastes precious funds,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 20, 2006.

  170. Dutch Broken Windows: Keizer, Lindenberg, & Steg, 2008.

  171. Hard-headed statisticians: Eisner, 2008; Rosenfeld, 2006. See also Fukuyama, 1999.

  172. Black women and clergy as civilizing forces: Anderson, 1999; Winship, 2004.

  173. Boston Miracle: Winship, 2004; P. Shea, “Take us out of the old brawl game,” Boston Globe, Jun. 30, 2008; F. Butterfield, “In Boston, nothing is something,” New York Times, Nov. 21, 1996.

  174. M. Cramer, “Homicide rate falls to lowest level since ’03,” Boston Globe, Jan. 1, 2010.

  175. Small predictable versus large capricious punishments: J. Rosen, “Prisoners of parole,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 10, 2010.

  176. Discounting the future: Daly & Wilson, 2000; Hirschi & Gottfredson, 2000; Wilson & Herrnstein, 1985. See also “Self-Control” in chap. 9 of this book.

  177. Dominance versus fairness: Fiske, 1991, 1992, 2004a. See also “Morality and Taboo” in chap. 9 of this book.

  178. “My probation officer doesn’t like me”: J. Rosen, “Prisoners of parole,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 10, 2010.

  179. Kant and crime prevention: J. Seabrook, “Don’t shoot: A radical approach to the problem of gang violence,” New Yorker, Jun. 22, 2009.

  180. House on fire: J. Seabrook, “Don’t shoot: A radical approach to the problem of gang violence,” New Yorker, Jun. 22, 2009, pp. 37–38.

  181. Reconstitution of social order: Fukuyama, 1999, p. 271; “Positive trends recorded in U.S. data on teenagers,” New York Times, Jul. 13, 2007.

  182. Informalization and third nature: Wouters, 2007.

  Chapter 4: The Humanitarian Revolution

  1. Torture museum: http://www.torturamuseum.com/this.html.

  2. Coffee table books on torture: Held, 1986; Puppi, 1990.

  3. Medieval torture: Held, 1986; Levinson, 2004b; Mannix, 1964; Payne, 2004; Puppi, 1990.

  4. Pope Paul IV a sainted torturer: Held, 1986, p. 12.

  5. Illogical torture: Mannix, 1964, pp. 123–24.

  6. Universality of torture: Davies, 1981; Mannix, 1964; Payne, 2004; Spitzer, 1975.

  7. Critical theorists: Menschenfreund, 2010. Theoconservatism: Linker, 2007.

  8. Humanism in Asia: Bourgon, 2003; Kurlansky, 2006; Sen, 2000.

  9. Human sacrifice: Davies, 1981; Mannix, 1964; Otterbein, 2004; Payne, 2004.

  10. “that no one might burn”: 2 Kings 23:10.

  11. Number of Aztec sacrifices: White, in press.

  12. Suttee deaths: White, in press.

  13. Superstitious rationale for human sacrifice: Payne, 2004, pp. 40–41.

  14. Quoted in M. Gerson, “Europe’s burqa rage,” Washington Post, May 26, 2010.

  15. Shortchanging the gods: Payne, 2004, p. 39.

  16. Witchcraft and hunter-gatherer warfare: Chagnon, 1997; Daly & Wilson, 1988; Gat, 2006; Keeley, 1996; Wiessner, 2006.

  17. Overactive cause detection: Atran, 2002.

  18. Witchcraft accusations: Daly & Wilson, 1988, pp. 237, 260–61.

  19. Enforcing unpopular norms: Willer, Kuwabara, & Macy, 2009. See also McKay, 1841/1995.

  20. Malleus Maleficarum: Mannix, 1964; A. Grafton, “Say anything,” New Republic, Nov. 5, 2008.

  21. 60,000 witch-hunt victims: White, in press. 100,000 witch-hunt victims: Rummel, 1994, p. 70.

  22. Witch hunts: Rummel, 1994, p. 62; A. Grafton, “Say anything,” New Republic, Nov. 5, 2008.

  23. Blood libels: Rummel, 1994, p. 56.

  24. Witchcraft skeptics: Mannix, 1964, pp. 133–34.

  25. Witchcraft experiments: Mannix, 1964, pp. 134–35, also recounted in McKay, 1841/1995.

  26. Decline of witchcraft: Thurston, 2007; Mannix, 1964, p. 137.

  27. Atrocitology: Rummel, 1994; Rummel, 1997; White, in press; White, 2010b.

  28. Death tolls of Christian wars and massacres: White, in press, provides the following estimates: Crusades, 3 million; Albigensian suppression, 1 million; Huguenot Wars, 2–4 million; Thirty Years’ War, 7.5 million. He does not provide his own estimate of the Inquisition’s death toll using multiple sources but cites an estimate from the general secretary of the Inquisition in 1808 of 32,000.

  29. 400 million people: Estimate of world population in 1200 CE from Historical estimates of world population, U.S. Census Bureau, 2010a.

  30. Albigensian Crusade: Rummel, 1994, p. 46.

  31. Albigensian Crusade as genocide: Chalk & Jonassohn, 1990; Kiernan, 2007; Rummel, 1994.

  32. Tortured for clean underwear: Mannix, 1964, pp. 50–51.

  33. Death toll from the Spanish Inquisition: Rummel, 1994, p. 70.

  34. Religious persecution: Grayling, 2007.

  35. Luther and the Jews: Lull, 2005.

  36. John Calvin, “Sermon on Deuteronomy”: Quoted in Grayling, 2007, p. 41.

  37. Murderous Calvin: Grayling, 2007.

  38. Henry VIII burned 3.25 heretics: Payne, 2004, p. 17.

  39. European Wars of Religion: Wright, 1942, p. 198.

  40. Death toll of Wars of Religion: See the table on p. 195 for similar estimates and comparisons from Matthew White.

  41. English Civil War death toll: Schama, 2001, p. 13. Schama cites “at least a quarter of a million” dead in England, Wales, and Scotland and guesstimates another 200,000 in Ireland, out of a population of 5 million in the British Isles at the time.

  42. Papal pique: Holsti, 1991, p. 25.

  43. Decline of the Inquisition: Perez, 2006.

  44. Erasmus and other skeptics: Popkin, 1979.

  45. Scrutiny of religious persecution: Grayling, 2007.

  46. “Calvin says that he is certain”: Concerning heretics, whether they are to be persecuted, quoted in Grayling, 2007, pp. 53–54.

  47. Skeptical Francis Bacon: Quoted in Grayling, 2007, p. 102.

  48. Cat-burning: Quoted in Payne, 2004, p. 126.

  49. Pepys: Quoted in Clark, 2007a, p. 182.

  50. Lethal pillorying: Mannix, 1964, pp. 132–33.

  51. Lethal flogging: Mannix, 1964, pp. 146–47. See also Payne, 2004, chap. 9.

  52. Cruel prisons: Payne, 2004, p. 122.

  53. Prison reform: Payne, 2004, p. 122.

  54. Infamous burning
at the stake: Mannix, 1964, p. 117.

  55. Breaking on the wheel: Trewlicher Bericht eynes scrocklichen Kindermords beym Hexensabath. Hamburg, Jun. 12, 1607. http://www.borndigital.com/wheeling.htm.

  56. Infamous breaking on the wheel: Hunt, 2007, pp. 70–76.

  57. Compassion for wheel victim: Hunt, 2007, p. 99.

  58. Voltaire on torture: Quoted in Hunt, 2007, p. 75.

  59. Christian hypocrisy: Montesquieu, 1748/2002.

  60. “the principle of sympathy”: Quoted in Hunt, 2007, pp. 112, 76.

  61. Rush on reforming criminals: Quoted in Hunt, 2007, p. 98.

  62. “blunt the sentiments”: Quoted in Hunt, 2007, p. 98.

  63. Beccaria: Hunt, 2007.

  64. Religious defense of torture: Hunt, 2007, chap. 2.

  65. Early animal rights movements: Gross, 2009; Shevelow, 2008.

  66. Frivolous capital infractions: Rummel, 1994, p. 66; Payne, 2004.

  67. Speedy trials: Payne, 2004, p. 120.

  68. Frivolous execution count: Rummel, 1994, p. 66.

  69. Decline of capital punishment: Payne, 2004, p. 119.

  70. UN’s nonbinding moratorium: E. M. Lederer, “UN General Assembly calls for death penalty moratorium,” Boston Globe, Dec. 18, 2007.

  71. United States are outliers: Capital punishment has been abolished in Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. Kansas’s last nonmilitary execution was in 1965.

  72. American execution rate infinitesimal: Every year during the 2000s around 16,500 people were murdered and around 55 were executed.

  73. Decline in American executions in the 2000s: Death Penalty Information Center, 2010b.

  74. Capital punishment for crimes other than murder: Death Penalty Information Center, 2010a.

  75. “In reform after reform”: Payne, 2004, p. 132.

  76. History of slavery: Davis, 1984; Patterson, 1985; Payne, 2004; Sowell, 1998.

  77. Recent abolitions: Rodriguez, 1999.

  78. Quote from “Report on the coast of Africa made by Captain George Collier, 1918–19,” reproduced in Eltis & Richardson, 2010.

  79. Slave trade statistics: Rummel, 1994, pp. 48, 70. White, in press, estimates that 16 million people died in the Atlantic slave trade, and another 18.5 million in the Mideast slave trade.