The Great American Crime Myth

Many theories--from the routine to the bizarre--have been offered up to explain the crime decline of the 1990s. Was it record levels of imprisonment? An abatement of the crack cocaine epidemic? More police using better tactics? Or even the effects of legalized abortion? And what can we expect from crime rates in the future? Franklin E. Zimring here takes on the experts, and counters with the first in-depth portrait of the decline and its true significance. The major lesson from the 1990s is that relatively superficial changes in the character of urban life can be associated with up to 75% drops in the crime rate. Crime can drop even if there is no major change in the population, the economy or the schools. Offering the most reliable data available, Zimring documents the decline as the longest and largest since World War II. It ranges across both violent and non-violent offenses, all regions, and every demographic. All Americans, whether they live in cities or suburbs, whether rich or poor, are safer today. Casting a critical and unerring eye on current explanations, this book demonstrates that both long-standing theories of crime prevention and recently generated theories fall far short of explaining the 1990s drop. A careful study of Canadian crime trends reveals that imprisonment and economic factors may not have played the role in the U.S. crime drop that many have suggested. There was no magic bullet but instead a combination of factors working in concert rather than a single cause that produced the decline. Further--and happily for future progress, it is clear that declines in the crime rate do not require fundamental social or structural changes. Smaller shifts in policy can make large differences. The significant reductions in crime rates, especially in New York, where crime dropped twice the national average, suggests that there is room for other cities to repeat this astounding success. In this definitive look at the great American crime decline, Franklin E. Zimring finds no pat answers but evidence that even lower crime rates might be in store.

According to the Justice Department's National Crime Survey, the crime rate in the United States is lower today than it was when Nixon was in the White House. In spite of this, political leaders demand nationwide prison construction as a response to the war on drugs and to accommodate the results of the new three strikes law. At the same time, the gap between rich and poor is wider than ever and the needs of the non-disruptive poor are being ignored by the economic and political elites to the point of unprecedented homelessness. The author predicts this widening gap will prompt the return of 1960s-style civil turmoil which will lead to the end of the war on drugs and the emptying of hundreds of thousands of cells so the protesting poor can be plausibly threatened with incarceration.

An Engaging and Accessible Overview of Crime and Justice in America For all their interest in crime, most Americans know very little about the reality of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States—and most of what Americans do know is a loose collection of accumulated truths, half-truths, and outright fallacies. Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice: What Every American Should Know, Second Edition provides a concise but thorough overview of criminal behavior, crime, and the criminal justice system in the United States. Using up-to-date social science research to debunk many of the beliefs Americans hold about crime, the book examines key topics such as serial killers and mass murders, gun violence, criminal victimization, identity theft, policing and police corruption, plea bargaining, jury nullification, wrongful convictions, the death penalty, and the “CSI Effect.” The fully revised and updated second edition of this popular text includes the most recent crime and criminal justice data, and covers several recent high-profile crimes, including the Newtown shooting, the Jerry Sandusky case, and the Trayvon Martin case. It also includes new sections on recent trends in crime rates, street gangs, and hate crimes. Ideally suited for students in criminal justice programs as well as professionals who work within or in tandem with the criminal justice system, Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice: What Every American Should Know, Second Edition is a thorough, engaging, and highly relevant portrait of crime and justice in America.

From the late ’90s to the mid-2010s, American cities experienced an astonishing drop in violent crime, dramatically changing urban life. In many cases, places once characterized by decay and abandonment are now thriving, the fear of death by gunshot wound replaced by concern about skyrocketing rents. In Uneasy Peace, Patrick Sharkey, “the leading young scholar of urban crime and concentrated poverty” (Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The New Urban Crisis) reveals the striking effects: improved school test scores, because children are better able to learn when not traumatized by nearby violence; better chances that poor children will rise into the middle class; and a marked increase in the life expectancy of African American men. Some of the forces that brought about safer streets—such as the intensive efforts made by local organizations to confront violence in their own communities—have been positive, Sharkey explains. But the drop in violent crime has also come at the high cost of aggressive policing and mass incarceration. From Harlem to South Los Angeles, Sharkey draws on original data and textured accounts of neighborhoods across the country to document the most successful proven strategies for combating violent crime and to lay out innovative and necessary approaches to the problem of violence. At a time when crime is rising again, the issue of police brutality has taken center stage, and powerful political forces seek to disinvest in cities, the insights in this book are indispensable.

Americans are fascinated with crime, criminals, and criminal justice. For all the public interest, however, relatively little is known about these topics that dominate newspaper headlines each and every day in the United States. This book provides readers with an accurate and up-to-date picture of crime and justice in the United States. Myths and Realities of Crime and Justice: What Every American Should Know addresses the major topics in this broad field and presents recent findings from criminologists and criminal justice practitioners in a reader-friendly manner. Combining up-to-date facts with an engaging narrative, this book will dispel many of the preconceived notions and distorted pictures about crime and justice that continue to perpetuate in the United States. This one-of-a-kind criminal justice book offers everything you need to know about crime, criminals, police. Book jacket.

This text invites students to pursue a career in sociology, entices others to consider advanced courses, and yet serves those who will take but one sociology course. This basic textbook for Introduction to Sociology can also serve well in courses in American Society.

Something has been going badly wrong in America. But what is really happening, why, and what does it mean? Could the US itself now be the greatest threat to the future of the West? What does Joe Biden need to do to get America back on track? In this fascinating account of America today, Patrick Davies, former British Deputy Ambassador to the US, sets out to understand how America, blinded by myths of its own exceptionalism, has failed to tackle serious political, social and economic problems which are exacerbating divisions in its society, poisoning its politics and ultimately fuelling America’s decline. The Great American Delusion asks whether, with global power shifting eastwards, the US can save itself and, with it, the Western world before it’s too late. Patrick Davies worked alongside the Obama and Trump White Houses for five years. He has more than 30 years’ experience of America, its people and its politics.