Chapter 4

Chapter 4 starts off with the interesting comparison between the abortion ban in Romania and the crime in America. Later on in the chapter, Levitt shows the connection between abortion and crime and how legalizing abortion has led to a decrease in the crime rate. The reasons noted are that children are not brought up in unstable homes, such as one parent homes, parents unable to raise a child due to money or age, and others. It seems to me that these factors are legitimate factors in how a child acts. If he or she is brought up in a loving home, they know how they should act, even though they may not always act that way. If they are not, they do not know how to react and start doing whatever they want, including crime.

He also talks about seven reasons noted in newspapers for the drop in the crime rate, and how some were backed-up by research and some were just opinions of the writers. The reasons that did hold true were increased reliance on prisons, increased number of police, and the bursting of the crack bubble. All of these reasons seem to make sense, and all are backed by the data researched. The others I thought would have been factors in lowering crime, especially innovative policing strategies, but I guess I wasn't looking at the big picture.

I thought it was interesting when the book showed the chart on how many weeks of pay an employee was compensated for when they damaged or lost a body part. It's interesting to see how companies few how important a certain body part is. But how do you value a body part? It is very difficult and varies among different people. This coincides with punitive damages: How much money should you get above and beyond compensatory damages for being injured by the defendant? Sometimes the punitive damages are TOO much ($1 million for a scratched arm).