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Crime

NCJ Number
152769
Editor(s)
J Q Wilson, J Petersilia
Date Published
1995
Length
650 pages
Annotation
These 21 papers are intended to provide a comprehensive, current analysis of the central issues in the current debate about crime, including the effects of family, neighborhood, economic, genetic, and biomedical factors on criminality; the extent to which guns, drugs, and television may increase crime rates; and what is known about the effects on crime of hiring more police and using differing policing strategies.
Abstract
The analyses also focus on how prosecutors and judges deal with offenders; issues related to juvenile crime and juvenile gangs; and the increase in prison populations and its effects on crime. Specific topics considered include the reasons some people become chronic, persistent offenders; the effects of drug legalization; the relationship between gun control laws and violent crime; incarceration rates in the United States in comparison to other Western countries; the relationship between unemployment and crime; the Federal role in crime control; and the effectiveness of community alternatives to imprisonment. Figures, notes, chapter reference lists, and index