The Crime Drop in America (Cambridge Studies in Criminology)
Despite the general public's perception, owing, in part, to recent highly publicized school shootings, crime in America has actually been dropping since 1992. The media have been dramatizing and sensationalizing high-profile crimes, failing to inform the public that these homicides make up less than one percent of the violent deaths of school-age children. Edited by Blumstein (Carnegie Mellon Univ.) and Wallman (Guggenheim Foundation), two of America's top experts on crime, this book provides a comprehensive review of crime in the United States. Designed primarily for criminologists, it covers the latest statistical and demographic data in an attempt to explain why the crime rate has dropped for eight consecutive years, reaching levels as low as those of the mid-1960s. The decrease is caused by a combination of variables: better policing, community policing, the decline of crack cocaine use, the increase in legitimate sources of income, changing demographics, the dramatic increase in the incarceration rate, and the aging of baby boomers, who are now out of the high-crime age. Recommended for specialized collections in criminology.DTim Delaney, Canisius Coll., Buffalo, NYCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.