1st Edition
Understanding New York’s Crime Drop
This book explores New York City’s historic crime drop over the past quarter of a century. New York City’s dramatic crime decline is a real brainteaser: no one predicted it and, as of yet, no one has explained it, at least to the satisfaction of most social scientists who study crime trends.
Three strategic lessons emerge from the contributions to this volume on New York’s crime drop. It is suggested that future research should:
• go wide by putting New York in comparative context, nationally and internationally;
• go long by putting New York’s recent experience in historical context;
• develop a strong ground game by investigating New York’s crime drop across multiple spatial units, down to the street segment.
The contributors to Understanding New York’s Crime Drop aim to provoke expanded and sustained attention to crime trends in New York and elsewhere.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Justice Quarterly.
Introduction: New York’s Crime Drop Puzzle, Richard Rosenfeld, Karen Terry & Preeti Chauhan
Chapter 1: Evaluating Contemporary Crime Drop(s) in America, New York City, and Many Other Places, Eric P. Baumer & Kevin T. Wolff
Chapter 2: Placing the Crime Decline in Context: A Comment on Baumer and Wolff, Lauren J. Krivo
Chapter 3: Area Differences and Time Trends in Crime Reporting: Comparing New York with Other Metropolitan Areas, Min Xie
Chapter 4: The New York City Police Department, its Crime Control Strategies and Organizational Changes, 1970-2009, Michael D. White
Chapter 5: The Impact of Police Stops on Precinct Robbery and Burglary Rates in New York City, 2003-2010, Richard Rosenfeld & Robert Fornango
Chapter 6: Stop, Question, and Assess: Comments on Rosenfeld and Fornango, Steven F. Messner & Eric P. Baumer
Chapter 7: Could Innovations in Policing have Contributed to the New York City Crime Drop even in a Period of Declining Police Strength?: The Case of Stop, Question and Frisk as a Hot Spots Policing Strategy, David Weisburd, Cody W. Telep & Brian A. Lawton
Chapter 8: Studying New York City’s Crime Decline: Methodological Issues, David F. Greenberg
Chapter 9: Time Series Properties of Crime Rate Changes: Comments Related to David Greenberg’s Paper, David McDowall
Biography
Richard Rosenfeld is the Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, USA. He has written extensively on crime trends, policing, and criminal justice policy. Dr Rosenfeld is a Fellow and former President of the American Society of Criminology.
Karen Terry is Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA. She publishes primarily in the areas of sexual victimization and policing.
Preeti Chauhan is Associate Professor in the Psychology Department and the Director of the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, USA. Her work has focused on policing, incarceration, and lower-level enforcement.
