I notice you made a big jump from 1961 to 2011.
To save on space, which is why I provided the link to the source. Given that violent crime rates have more than doubled since the 60's, which was itself a violent era compared to the 50's, it's clear that crime isn't at its lowest point in the nation's history. What was crime in the 50's like? I haven't found any national data, but San Diego's numbers are a possible proxy:
| Year | Population | Murder | Rape | Robbery | Agg r. Assault |
Violent Crime |
Burglary | Larceny | Vehicle Theft |
Property Crime |
Index Total |
| 2013 | 1,326,238 | 0.03 | 0.24 | 1.10 | 2.63 | 4.00 | 4.79 | 14.50 | 4.63 | 23.92 | 27.92 |
| 2012 | 1,321,315 | 0.04 | 0.23 | 1.15 | 2.77 | 4.18 | 4.47 | 14.52 | 5.00 | 23.99 | 28.18 |
| 1951 | 396,000 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.21 | 0.16 | 0.40 | 1.99 | 10.95 | 2.85 | 15.79 | 16.19 |
| 1950 | 334,387 | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.19 | 0.47 | 2.36 | 10.77 | 2.31 | 15.44 | 15.91 |
San Diego's stats attest to the fact that the 60's were a decade of rampant disorder, and it got far worse after that, peaking only in the 90's, three decades later. Even at today's diminished numbers vis-a-vis the 90's, San Diego's per capita violent crime rate is 8x what it was in 1950.