despite the general impression most middle-class Americans shared in the eighties and nineties, crime against property in America declined rapidly. It became increasingly unlikely that you’d die at the hands of a stranger made “feral” by “the inner city.” However, between 1980 and 2008, families, friends, and acquaintances murdered one another with prolific enthusiasm, accounting for far more death than “gang-related” murders. During this period, nearly 80 percent of murder victims knew their killer and almost 42 percent of female homicides came at the hands of a romantic partner.
