The Crime Drop in America (Cambridge Studies in Criminology)

Violent crime in America shot up sharply in the mid-1980s and continued to climb until 1991, after which something unprecedented occurred. The crime level declined to a level not seen since the 1960s. This revised edition of The Crime Drop in America focuses first on the dramatic drop in crime rates in America in the 1990s, and then, in a new epilogue, on the patterns since 2000. The separate chapters written by distinguished experts cover the many factors affecting crime rates: policing, incarceration, drug markets, gun control, economics, and demographics. Detailed analyses emphasize the mutual effects of changes in crack markets, a major focus of youth violence, and the drop in rates of violence following decline in demand for crack. The contrasts between the crime-drop period of the 1990s and the period since 2000 are explored in the new epilogue, which also reviews major new developments in thinking about the causes and control of crime. Half-title......Page 2 Series-title......Page 4 Title......Page 6 Copyright......Page 7 Contents......Page 8 Contributors......Page 10 CHAPTER ONE The Recent Rise and Fall of American Violence......Page 16 A Four-Decade Backdrop......Page 18 The Elements of the Crime Drop......Page 19 The Role of Prisons......Page 20 The Steady Decline of Adult Violence......Page 21 The Role of Policing......Page 23 The Role of Economic Opportunity......Page 24 The Role of Demography......Page 25 The Past, Present, and Future of U.S. Violence......Page 26 Acknowledgment......Page 27 The Changing Rates of Violence in the U.S.......Page 28 Measuring Violence......Page 29 Differences Across Age Groups......Page 35 Changing Demographic Composition......Page 43 The Role of Handguns......Page 44 The Big Cities......Page 50 Conclusion......Page 54 Acknowledgments......Page 55 Notes......Page 56 References......Page 58 The Importance of Guns in Violence......Page 60 The 1980s to 1993: Rates of Gun Violence Increasing......Page 62 People......Page 63 1993 to the Present: Rates of Gun Violence Decreasing......Page 82 Interventions......Page 84 Focusing on Demand and Use......Page 85 Focusing on Supply......Page 88 Gun Bans......Page 93 Interventions of Chiefly Symbolic Value......Page 100 References......Page 103 Introduction......Page 112 Previous Findings and the Crime Drop......Page 113 Why Prisons May Have Become More Effective......Page 123 Did Prisons Become More Effective?......Page 134 Conclusion......Page 138 Notes......Page 140 References......Page 141 CHAPTER FIVE Patterns in Adult Homicide: 1980–1995......Page 145 Age Structure and Homicide......Page 146 Sex, Race, and Victim-Offender Relationship......Page 150 The Effect of Incarceration Growth on the Homicide Decline......Page 158 Declining Domesticity and the Drop in Intimate Partner Homicide......Page 167 The Civilizing Process and the Decline in Adult Homicide......Page 172 Notes......Page 174 References......Page 176 Introduction......Page 179 A Social History of Drug Use, Drug Markets, and Violence......Page 185 Conclusion......Page 211 References......Page 213 CHAPTER SEVEN Have Changes in Policing Reduced Violent Crime? An Assessment of the Evidence......Page 222 Part One: Generic Changes in American Policing......Page 223 Part Two: Focusing Police on Repeat Places and People......Page 243 Part Three: Lessons for Policing......Page 260 Acknowledgments......Page 266 Notes......Page 267 References......Page 268 CHAPTER EIGHT An Economic Model of Recent Trends in Violence......Page 281 The Model......Page 283 Explaining the Rise in Violence......Page 290 Explaining the Fall in Violence......Page 292 The Distribution of Violence by Age, Race, and Space......Page 298 References......Page 301 CHAPTER NINE Demographics and U.S. Homicide......Page 303 Violent Crime Trends and Demography......Page 304 Notes......Page 328 References......Page 329 Facts......Page 334 Factors......Page 338 Guns......Page 339 Prisons......Page 343 Drugs......Page 345 Police......Page 349 Economics......Page 352 Demographics......Page 354 Conclusion......Page 358 References......Page 359 Index......Page 364

Violent crime in America shot up sharply in the mid-1980s and continued to climb until 1991, after which something unprecedented occurred. For the next seven years it declined to a level not seen since the 1960s.

The puzzle of why this has happened has bedeviled criminologists, politicians, policy makers and average citizens. Numerous explanations have been put forth, from improvements in policing to the decline in crack cocaine. The authors of this timely and critical book explain and assess the plausible causes and competing claims of credit for the crime drop. Here some of America's top criminologists examine the role of guns and gun violence, the growing prison population, homicide patterns, drug markets, economic opportunity, changes in policing, and changing demographics.

As the authors point out, the trends that have contributed to the decline in violent crime—gun control efforts (at both the federal and local levels), changes in drug markets (the decline of crack cocaine), and economic shifts (high employment in the flourishing economy of the late 1990s)—cannot continue indefinitely. The control and prevention of crime will continue to challenge scholars and public policy makers. This book presents the most authoritative, intelligent discussion available on the rise and fall of American violence. The perspectives offered here will undoubtedly influence the public debate and the planning of future responses to crime.

Focusing on the dramatic drop in crime rates in America in the 1990s and then on the patterns since 2000, this work covers the many factors affecting crime rate: policing, incarceration, drug markets, gun control, economics, and demographics