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Crimes rates have plummeted in the U.S. since the mid-1990s. Most of the credit for this remarkable trend has been given to an enlarged criminal justice system—largely more police, tougher sentencing and a massive prison complex.
I'm doubting the legitimacy of the article, based entirely on this opening sentence alone. It's pretty well established that an enlarged criminal justice system does little to reduce crime. No one's giving it credit except those lining their pockets.
I’ve read that access to abortions and reducing lead can also have dramatic effects on the crime rate as well. The criminal justice system though, seems to have been designed in such a way that once you get caught up in it, it’s hard to get out of its orbit again. It’s like this black hole that tries to suck up anything that gets too close.
Say it with me everybody, 'Correlation does not equal causation.'
But "it is almost a perfect correlation (.77, with 1.00 being a perfect correlation) as Figure 1 shows“!