Originally Posted by Incitatus Ireland was almost twice as violent in the 19th century. Below are listed the average murder and manslaughter rates per million of population for four ten-year periods since 1845. Going back further, the rates are far higher. 1845-1854 24.0 1895-1904 15.8 1945-1954 3.4 1995-2004 13.7 The selective, oft-quoted focus on the statistically unusual mid-20th century period is ahistorical and misleading. (Incidentally, does anyone know if complete year-by-year statistics can be found online? I haven’t been able to locate them.) Violence in Europe: historical and ... - Google Books

Kilbarry1

IT wasn't just the 1950s when crime was low. It was the entire history of the State after the Civil War and up to the 1960s - at which stage crime began its inexorable rise. In January 2006 the Sunday Tribune published an article that pointed out that the previous year 2005 had the highest number of homocides since the Civil War:
Worst Year for Killings Since the Civil War

Sixty Dead In Worst Year for Killings Since the Civil War ......

THE past 12 months have been the bloodiest in the peacetime history of the State, with Waterford emerging as the new murder capital of Ireland.

A total of 60 people were killed violently in Ireland during 2005, the highest number since the ending of the Civil War. Official garda statistics on violent deaths nationwide last year, which have been obtained by the Sunday Tribune, show major increases in the number of men killed violently. .......

The largest increase in killings in Ireland was related to organised crime, with a twofold increase in the number of people killed in gangland feuds over the past 12 months. Nineteen people, all of whom were men, were killed as a result of disputes between criminal gangs.

The proliferation of firearms among criminal gangs is now seen by gardai as a major problem in curbing the growing homicide rate. Fuelled by an increase in the drugs trade and in the accessability of highperformance handguns in particular, criminal gangs . . .especially in Dublin . . . have become increasingly lethal.

However, 41 of the 60 killings in 2005 had no connection to organised crime, highlighting a growing problem of excessive violence in Ireland. Many of the young men who were killed over the past 12 months died from injuries sustained during late-night alcohol-fuelled fights.

Almost half of all male victims were either beaten or stabbed to death. Guns accounted for over 40% of all killings of males in 2005, with 20 men shot to death. Of those, only one . . . the killing of Carlow farmer James Healy, who was fatally shot over a land dispute . . . was not gang-related. ......

The number of people killed violently in the State last year exceeds the previous high set in 2002, when 59 people were the victims of violent deaths.

Incidentally it's clear from the above that legalising drugs would not solve the problem. There is a GENERAL increase in violence. (The homocide rate increased again in 2006 and 2007 so it began to look as if EVERY year from now on will have the worst homocide rate since the Civil War!! Then it decreased in the last few years but we are never going back to the 1950s rate - or the 1940s, 1930s etc)