Crime Stories of the Century
The awful acts of the past 100 years forced America to look at itself in the mirror
THE NEXT CENTURY
Millennial madness?
It's hard to say where things are going in the new millennium. Violent crime has declined steadily, but the experts believe it's best to hold off popping the champagne for now. They worry that the reasons for the drop could shift the other way. Will the economy remain strong? Is there another deadly menace on the horizon, like crack during the 1980s? Might crime surge because of the massive welfare overhaul?
In looking back at the past 100 years, one thing stands out: Man's capacity for cruelty seems fairly constant. In fact, some experts note that the extraordinarily brutal crimes--such as Charles Manson's blood bath, Son of Sam and his spinoffs--appear to have increased since World War II. "The crimes that scare us most--those by strangers--are on the rise: serial killings and mass killings," says historian Roger Lane. As the millennium closes, it seems there are more and more random assaults on the anchors of American life: offices, schools, post offices. Some fear terrorism, too, is the wave of the future--the targeting of American fortresses by crazed militia groups or by international madmen seeking redress with powerful bombs. Crime experts worry that someday we might see the frightening brand of overseas terrorism that has so far eluded us: suicidal fanatics bent on destruction.
Such crimes--random, huge, paralyzing--may make us nostalgic for the spectacles of this century's early years, like the steamy love triangle of Stanford White. They conjure an age when big crimes were more soap opera than suffering.
With Kate V. Forsyth
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