ABSTRACT
It was common in the 1990s to hear that “the economy has never been better” or that we “never had it so good, ” with such supporting evidence as low official unemployment figures (Beauchesne, 1999), record profits accumulated by large corporations, a booming stock market, and a sharp increase in conspicuous consumption (e.g., buying cars, jewelry, etc.) (Hurtig, 1999). For many citizens, another good sign was an overall decrease in interpersonal violent crime. For example, the U.S. homicide rate had fallen to its lowest level in 30 years (Fox & Zawitz, 2000). Some people “credit the economy for a big drop in attacks” (Ellis, 2000:A13), while others, such as former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, attributed the decrease to aggressive policing and to increased sanction severity (Shapiro, 1999).
