Random Acts of Violence Surge Across the Country, Indicating Societal Decline: Expert

Crime has already been at high levels for over a year, and the rise of senseless violence signals a moral decline.

New York City police gather at the scene of a shooting of a 78-year-old man by police in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York on April 13, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

An escalation of random violence in major cities across the nation has fueled concerns that the country could be in the midst of a widespread societal decline and “a sign of complete callousness to our fellow man,” according to a philosophy professor at Hillsdale College.

New York City

In New York City, three young women were randomly punched in the face by men on Manhattan streets and subways in the span of a few days in September.

One of the victims, 19-year-old college student Ellio Wagner, posted a TikTok video about how a man randomly punched her in the face and ran off while she walked to work on Sept. 8.