a legal historical experiment.

Jill Lepore, in her article on the murder rate in the United States, cites the scholars Monkkonen and Roth, who have brought us closer to answering an important question: why do Americans kill? (A Critic at Large, November 9th). Building on their research, I have tracked the historical occurrence of assault and battery in New York. After 1800, American courts moved away from the traditional means of handling assault, whereby a magistrate issued bonds of good behavior which involved families and neighbors in preventing future violence, and a speedy (albeit more severe) approach to assaults became the norm. Courts dismissed complaints in droves. Americans no longer feared jail time or punishment for minor assaults, and the courts focussed their energies on murders, rapes, and robberies. Yet murder often arises from assaults that turn deadly. As long as we live in a country where violent confrontation goes unpunished and, indeed, is often celebrated, we will have a homicide rate that befits our belligerence.

Joshua Stein

Schwartz Postdoctoral Fellow

The New School for Social Research

Brooklyn, N.Y.