As the Nation considers the problem of crime and tries to craft an effective crime policy, it is important to bear in mind that crime is highly concentrated and affects only a small portion of the American population. In Chicago, some precincts have crime rates 25 percent higher than others. In New York City in 1993, 12 of the city's 75 precincts accounted for 44 percent of all the homicides. In Minneapolis, 67 percent of all calls-for-service to the police come from only 7 percent of the addresses in the city. Ninety-three percent of all neighborhoods have no serious crime at all. Differences in crime rates among communities can be predicted with 75-to 90-percent accuracy by the following factors: income, employment, education, race, number of households headed by single women, and home ownership. Crime policy should direct resources to those districts that account for a disproportionate amount of crime, revitalizing primary social groups such as families, churches, schools, civic associations and neighborhoods. Notes