Editing Serial killer (section)

===Late 20th century===
[[File:BrooksHenleyHighIslandBeachAugust13 1973a.jpg|195px|right|thumb|[[Elmer Wayne Henley]] (left) and [[David Owen Brooks]] (right), accomplices to serial killer [[Dean Corll]], who murdered at least 28 teenage boys between 1970 and 1973]]

The serial killing phenomenon in the United States was especially prominent from 1970 to 2000, which has been described as the "golden age of serial murder".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ehrlich|first=Brenna|date=February 10, 2021|title=Why Were There So Many Serial Killers Between 1970 and 2000 – and Where Did They Go?|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/serial-killers-1970s-2000s-murders-1121705/|url-status=live|access-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429110955/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/serial-killers-1970s-2000s-murders-1121705/|archive-date=April 29, 2021}}</ref> The cause of the spike in serial killings has been attributed to [[urbanization]], which put people in close proximity and offered anonymity.<ref name="u884">{{cite book | last=Martin | first=G. | title=Crime, Media and Culture | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-317-36897-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjZ7DwAAQBAJ&pg=RA2-PT71 | access-date=2024-05-21 | page=2-PT71}}</ref> The number of active serial killers in the United States peaked in 1989 and has been steadily trending downward since, coinciding with an overall decrease in [[crime in the United States]] since that time. The decline in serial killers has no known single cause but is attributed to a number of factors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yaksic |first1=Enzo |last2=Allely |first2=Clare |last3=De Silva |first3=Raneesha |last4=Smith-Inglis |first4=Melissa |last5=Konikoff |first5=Daniel |last6=Ryan |first6=Kori |last7=Gordon |first7=Dan |last8=Denisov |first8=Egor |last9=Keatley |first9=David A. |date=January 2019 |editor-last=Chan |editor-first=Heng Choon (Oliver) |title=Detecting a decline in serial homicide: Have we banished the devil from the details? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2019.1678450 |journal=Cogent Social Sciences |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.1080/23311886.2019.1678450 |issn=2331-1886}}</ref> [[Mike Aamodt]], emeritus professor at Radford University in Virginia, attributes the decline in number of serial killings to less frequent use of [[parole]], improved [[Forensic science|forensic technology]], and people behaving more cautiously.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Taylor|first=David|date=September 15, 2018|title=Are American serial killers a dying breed?|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/15/are-american-serial-killers-a-dying-breed|url-status=live|access-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426052444/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/15/are-american-serial-killers-a-dying-breed|archive-date=April 26, 2021}}</ref> Causes for the general reduction in violent crime following the 1990s include increased [[incarceration in the United States]], the end of the [[crack epidemic in the United States]], and decreased [[Lead poisoning|lead exposure]] in early childhood.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Levitt |first=Stephen |author-link=Steven Levitt |date=2004 |title=Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not |url=https://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittUnderstandingWhyCrime2004.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124053340/http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittUnderstandingWhyCrime2004.pdf |archive-date=2005-11-24 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=163–190|doi=10.1257/089533004773563485 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=J. Sampson |first1=Robert |last2=S. Winter |first2=Alix |date=May 2018 |title=Poisoned Development: Assessing Childhood Lead Exposure as a Cauase of Crime in a Birth Cohort Followed Through Adolescence: Lead Poisoning and Crime |journal=Criminology |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=269–301 |doi=10.1111/1745-9125.12171|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reyes |first=Jessica Wolpaw |date=2007-10-17 |title=Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.2202/1935-1682.1796/html |journal=The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy |volume=7 |issue=1 |doi=10.2202/1935-1682.1796 |issn=1935-1682 |access-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-date=November 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102183300/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.2202/1935-1682.1796/html |url-status=live }}</ref>