For our final episode of the year, we're changing things up with Escape from New York! Join us as we explore how well this 1981 film predicted the year 1997, with discussions of island prisons, crime rates, Telex technology, and more!

Sources:

Tim Wadsworth, "Is Immigration Responsible for the Crime Drop? An Assessment on the Influence of Immigration on Changes in Violent Crime Between 1990 and 2000," Social Science Quarterly 91, 2 (2010) Dara Lind and German Lopez, "16 Theories for Why Crime Plummeted in the US," Vox, available at https://www.vox.com/2015/2/13/8032231/crime-drop John Gramlich, "Voters Perceptions of Crime Continue to Conflict with Reality," Pew, available at https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/16/voters-perceptions-of-crime-continue-to-conflict-with-reality/ John Gramlich, "What We Know About the Increase in Murder in 2020," Pew, available at https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/10/27/what-we-know-about-the-increase-in-u-s-murders-in-2020/ Dennis Thompson, U.S. Violent Crime Rate Drops Significantly Since 1980s; Reduction may be due to programs that try to break cycle of violence, experts say. Available at Gale OneFile. 

German Lopez, "Mass incarceration in America, explained in 22 maps and charts," Vox 11 October 2016, https://www.vox.com/2015/7/13/8913297/mass-incarceration-maps-charts   Associated Press, "In 90's, Prison Building by States and U.S. Government Surged," The New York Times 8 August 1997. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/08/us/in-90-s-prison-building-by-states-and-us-government-surged.html   NY Demographics https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/historical-population/nyc_total_pop_1900-2010.pdf  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_Penitentiary  Rosie Blunt, "Rikers Island: Tales from inside New York's notorious jail," BBC News 20 October 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50114468  Caroline Delbert, "Forced Exile: The World's Dubious History of Prison Islands," Popular Mechanics 15 February 2023, https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a42665100/history-of-prison-islands/  

Jake Malooley, "John Carpenter is Scared," Esquire, available at https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a34518538/john-carpenter-2020-interview-coronavirus-trump-they-live-the-thing/ Rotten Tomatoes, Escape from New York: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1006717-escape_from_new_york WIkipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_New_York Siskel and Ebert Review, available at https://youtu.be/xW-JL58fQQk?si=jadAn9OME4P604ks

Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/technology/telex