Editing Murder (section)

===Historical variation===
[[File:Homicide-world.png|250px|thumb|Intentional homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants, 2009]]
According to scholar Pieter Spierenburg [[homicide rates]] per 100,000 in Europe have fallen over the centuries, from 35 per 100,000 in medieval times, to 20 in 1500&nbsp;AD, five in 1700, to below two per 100,000 in 1900.<ref name="Spierenburg">Spierenburg, Pieter, ''A History of Murder: Personal Violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present'', Polity, 2008. Referred to in [https://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/11/09/091109crat_atlarge_lepore#ixzz0ePRpHvGz "Rap Sheet Why is American history so murderous?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109044828/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/11/09/091109crat_atlarge_lepore |date=2010-01-09 }} by [[Jill Lepore]] New Yorker, November 9, 2009</ref>

In the United States, murder rates have been higher and have fluctuated. They fell below 2 per 100,000 by 1900, rose during the first half of the century, dropped in the years following World War II, and bottomed out at 4.0 in 1957 before rising again.<ref>{{cite web|title=US murder rate by year, 1900–2010|url=https://www.democraticunderground.com/10021998000|website=Democratic Underground|access-date=10 September 2017|date=16 December 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170910083329/https://www.democraticunderground.com/10021998000|archive-date=10 September 2017}}</ref> The rate stayed in 9 to 10 range most of the period from 1972 to 1994, before falling to 5 in present times.<ref name="Spierenburg" /> The increase since 1957 would have been even greater if not for the significant improvements in medical techniques and emergency response times, which mean that more and more attempted homicide victims survive. According to one estimate, if the lethality levels of criminal assaults of 1964 still applied in 1993, the country would have seen the murder rate of around 26 per 100,000, almost triple the actually observed rate of 9.5 per 100,000.<ref name="harristhomas"/>

[[File:Historical homicide rate in Stockholm.svg|thumb|left|250px|The historical homicide rate in [[Stockholm]] since 1400&nbsp;AD. The murder rate was very high in the [[Middle Ages]]. The rate has declined greatly: from 45/100,000 to a low of 0.6 in the 1950s. The last decades have seen the homicide rate rise slowly.]]
A similar, but less pronounced pattern has been seen in major European countries as well. The murder rate in the United Kingdom fell to 1 per 100,000 by the beginning of the 20th century and as low as 0.62 per 100,000 in 1960, and was at 1.28 per 100,000 {{as of|lc=y|2009}}. The murder rate in France (excluding Corsica) bottomed out after World War II at less than 0.4 per 100,000, quadrupling to 1.6 per 100,000 since then.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cjrc.osu.edu/researchprojects/hvd/AHSV/tables/AHSV%20European%20Homicides.pdf|title=American Homicide Supplemental Volume (AHSV), European Homicides (EH)|author=Randolph Roth|date=October 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629054202/http://cjrc.osu.edu/researchprojects/hvd/AHSV/tables/AHSV%20European%20Homicides.pdf|archive-date=2010-06-29}}</ref>

The specific factors driving these dynamics in murder rates are complex and not universally agreed upon. Much of the raise in the U.S. murder rate during the first half of the 20th century is generally thought to be attributed to gang violence associated with [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]]. Since most murders are committed by young males, the near simultaneous low in the murder rates of major developed countries circa 1960 can be attributed to low birth rates during the Great Depression and World War II. Causes of further moves are more controversial. Some of the more exotic factors claimed to affect murder rates include the availability of abortion<ref>"Freakonomics", Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, 2005, {{ISBN|0-06-073132-X}}</ref> and the likelihood of chronic exposure to [[lead poisoning#Nervous system|lead]] during childhood (due to the use of leaded paint in houses and [[tetraethyllead]] as a gasoline additive in internal combustion engines).<ref>{{cite web
|url         = https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/lead-exposure-gasoline-crime-increase-children-health/
|title       = Lead: America's Real Criminal Element
|last        = Drum
|first       = Kevin
|date        = 2016-02-11
|website     = Mother Jones
|access-date = 2017-08-14
|url-status     = live
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170811141759/https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/lead-exposure-gasoline-crime-increase-children-health/
|archive-date = 2017-08-11
}}</ref><!-- See the article on lead poisoning for citations.-->
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