“shaming” offensive, posting pictures of convicted johns (and prostitutes) on websites or on local-access television. Which is a more horrifying deterrent: a $500 fine for soliciting a prostitute or the thought of your friends and family ogling you on www.HookersAndJohns.com.

So through a complicated, haphazard, and constantly readjusted web of economic, social, and moral incentives, modern society does its best to militate against crime. Some people would argue that we don’t do a very good job. But taking the long view, that is clearly not true. Consider the historical trend in homicide (not including wars), which is both the most reliably measured crime and the best barometer of a society’s overall crime rate. These statistics, compiled by the criminologist Manuel Eisner, track the historical homicide levels in five European regions.

HOMICIDES

(per 100,000 People)

ITALY

NETHERLANDS

GERMANY AND

ENGLAND AND BELGIUM

SCANDINAVIA SWITZERLAND

13th 23.0 47.0

n.a.

37.0

56.0

and

14th

c.

15th n.a. 45.0

46.0

16.0

73.0

c.

16th 7.0 25.0

21.0

11.0

47.0

c.

17th 5.0 7.5

18.0

7.0

32.0

c.

18th 1.5 5.5

1.9

7.5

10.5

c.

19th 1.7 1.6

1.1

2.8

12.6

c.

1900– 0.8 1.5

0.7

1.7

3.2

1949

1950– 0.9 0.9

0.9