The 6 unbelievable transformation of the world

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In the 1980s, New York had a reputation as a dangerous, crime-ridden city. The city government was in crisis, with severe financial problems. There was a sense that New York was out of control.

Fast forward to the present day, and you see a city transformed. In just 20 years, it has become one of the safest big cities in America. Many onlookers want to know: What happened? How did New York do this? And can we do the same where we are?

The Centre for Justice Innovation (CJI), a UK project of the New York-based Center for Court Innovation, has set out their take on the phenomenon in a compact publication called “A Thousand Small Sanities.” It tells the story of New York and offers one possible explanation for this remarkable transformation.

There is no doubt that the situation was grim two decades ago. In 1990, New York clocked up 2,245 murders. Compare this to London, a city of similar size, which logged 136 murders in 2009. Other crimes – rape, burglary, car theft – were also at high levels. The city was dealing with open-air drug markets, extensive organized crime, and decaying neighborhoods.

By 2009, New York had been transformed. The murder rate had dropped by 79%, with similarly large declines in all other serious crime. A national US trend of decreasing crime rates could not explain the massive size of New York’s improvements.

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