NCJ Number
173826
Date Published
1998
Length
14 pages
Annotation
These six brief articles address facets of the decline in crime in the United States during the past several years.
Abstract
These papers were presented at a conference held in March 1998 by the National Institute of Justice, the Northwestern University School of Law, and The Journal of Law and Criminology: (1) Assessing the Recent Ups and Downs in US Homicide Rates; (2) Declining Homicide in New York City: A Tale of Two Trends; (3) Alcohol and Homicide in the United States, 1934-1995, or One Reason Why US Rates of Violence May Be Going Down; (4) The Improbable Transformation of Inner-City Neighborhoods: Crime, Violence, Drugs, and Youths in the 1990s; (5) The Role of Institutions in Explaining American Crime Trends; and (6) Asymmetrical Causation and Criminal Desistance. Among the topics discussed in these articles are the debate over criminal careers and the age-crime curve, local anticrime initiatives, and possible explanations for the decline in crime rates. Figures, note