What happened in the 70s that caused such a large increase in serial killers/murderers?
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r/AskHistoriansu/ivegotaleg (1801)

A bit morbid, sorry, but I sometimes wonder about this.

The majority of infamous serial killers were from the 70’s. This suggests that there was an increase in this sort of activity during this period, and this is a theory that I’ve heard repeated by others at times, and seems to be a popular concept.

My first question is; is this really the case? Or is it instead something like changes in law enforcement tactics or increased media focus made what already existed seemingly increase in frequency?

Secondly; if there was indeed an increase, are there any theories on what caused this?

Thanks

Comments (127)

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More can always be said, etc., but there's an answer by a deleted user from about a year ago that addresses some parts of your question.

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Given the time period, I'm wondering if the method of tracking crime and reporting on crime changed substantially?

For example, more homes having access to television.

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There is mention of leaded gas in an older post by that deleted user that they provide a link to in their post.

Thank you, I didn’t catch it the first time around so will re-read

Yeah, I went back to reread it myself. The link is in the first paragraph, where he responds to a question about leaded gas is here - https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/k39olf/comment/ge3l5gv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Did it have something to do with lead in gas?

No. If you read the answer linked by abbot_x, it says pretty clearly that one of the biggest reason was the social and economical upheaval:

"In the 70s-90s, there were all kinds of massive changes going through society. It was the immediate aftermath of the Jim Crow era and all of the associated racial tensions. It was the beginning of several large feminist movements such as second-wave white feminist movements and Black feminist movements, and all of the associated gendered/racial tensions. The youngest baby boombers were in their 20s, while the oldest (approaching their 40s) had kids who were late teens/early 20s, and we know teens/20s are the "peak" age for most types of crime. There were several economic recessions in the 70s and 80s - and recessions are VERY strongly correlated with increases in crime rates. The list goes on..."

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This may get my comment removed as I know it is not in depth enough to be considered an answer(nor am I qualified to truly provide one)

Then we kindly request that you refrain from writing.

Aren’t requirements for responses different from top posts? I don’t know what was said but people often leave comments on other posts that aren’t on same level of quality as top posts.

No, we treat all replies as top-level comments. If you see any comment that does not follow our rules, please report them.

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