NCJ Number
115826
Date Published
1988
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study replicates and then extends Wilson and Boland's (1978) theory of the deterrent effect of policing on crime rates in American cities by linking it to recent thinking on control of urban disorder and incivilities (Sherman, 1986; Skogan and Maxfield, 1981).
Abstract
The theory posits that police departments with a legalistic style tend to generate policies of proactive patrol (e.g., high traffic citation rate and frequent stops of suspicious or disorderly persons), which in turn may decrease crime rates either indirectly, by increasing the probability of arrest, or directly, by decreasing the crime rate through a deterrent effect regarding perceived threat of social control. This study tested both of these propositions by examining robbery rates in 171 American cities in 1980. Overall, the findings indicate that proactive policing has direct inverse effects on aggregate robbery rates, independent of known determinants of crime (e.g., poverty, inequality, region, and family disruption). Moreover, when the study demographically disaggregated the robbery rate, the direct inverse effect of aggressive policing on robbery was largest for adult offenders and black offenders. this report examines the reasons for these findings and discusses their theoretical and policy implications. 5 tables, 50 references. (Author abstract modified)