The prison thing would only interest me if we compared only those arrested today for laws that were actually in effect in 1950. More laws = more laws broken.
“As state prison populations fell, so did the violent crime rate, which provides further evidence that increased incarceration does not mean more public safety. Concurrent with the 5.3 percent fall in violent crime in 2008–2009, state prison populations decreased 0.2 percent” source
”According to data collected by the United States Justice Department, from 1978 to 1996, the number of violent offenders entering our nation’s prisons doubled (from 43,733 to 98,672 inmates); the number of nonviolent offenders tripled (from 83,721 to 261,796 inmates) and the number of drug offenders increased sevenfold (from 14,241 to 114,071 inmates). As such, 77% of the growth in intake to America’s state and federal prisons between 1978 and 1996 was accounted for by nonviolent offender” source
Church attendance means nothing. I’d rather see fewer people giving their money away to tax-free superstition-peddling.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was first released in 1952. It did not include Depression among its recognized medical disorders until its third revision in 1989. If you had Depression in 1950, you were screwed.
High school graduation rates have rose significantly across the board since 1950.
But you’re right – the divorce rate is higher, but so is the age at marriage, and the marriage rate is significantly lower, as well as the fertility rate, and poverty in families is lower. This tells me that women are no longer dependent upon a husband to successfully raise a family, and have the freedom to choose whether they wish to be married, and when, and to whom.