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CRIME PREVENTION

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A Selective Review of Practice Innovations to improve the Life Chances of justice-involved young people and adults with complex needs.

By Suzanne Mooney, Lisa Bunting, Stephen Coulter & Lorna Montgomery

This report uses the ‘Sequential Intercept Model’ (SIM) as a framework to provide a selective review of practice innovations at different stages of the criminal justice process as a means to improve the life chances of young people and adults with complex needs in Northern Ireland (NI) who interface with the criminal justice system (CJS)1. The report was commissioned by the Safeguarding Board Northern Ireland as part of the cross-departmental Early Intervention Transformation Programme initiative to support the development of Trauma Informed Practice across systems of health, social care, education, justice and the community and voluntary sectors in NI.

Belfast: Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland and Queen’s University Belfast.

Characteristics of officer-involved vehicle collisions in California

Scott E. Wolfe , Jeff Rojek , Geoff Alpert ,Hope Tiesman, and Stephen James

Following the unfortunate rise in the number of law enforcement officers killed in the USA between 2010 and 2011, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services created the national Officer Safety and Wellness (OSW) group to identify and support efforts to improve officer safety (Stephens et al., 2012). One of the more notable observations from the OSW group was that little is known about officerinvolved vehicle collisions despite these events often being the leading cause of officer fatalities in the USA on an annual basis (Stephens et al., 2013)[ 1 ]. This issue has largely been ignored by the research community and, as a result, there is virtually no empirical knowledge concerning the prevalence of vehicle collisions, the injury, and fatality outcomes of these events, the characteristics of these collisions, or the characteristics of individuals involved in such incidents. The impact of this empirical gap is a lack of knowledge for developing policy, practice, and training aimed at reducing injuries and fatalities resulting from vehicle collisions. The present study partially addresses this gap in the literature by examining more than 35,000 vehicle collisions involving officers in the State of California between 2000 and 2009. The analysis examines the outcomes of these events and the characteristics of the collisions and offices involved.

HHS Public Access. Author manuscript. Policing. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 February 10.

UNDERSTANDING CAR THEFT

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MICHAEL C. MAXFIELD AND RONALD V. CLARKE

In their compelling book, "Understanding Car Theft," authors Michael C. Maxfield and Ronald V. Clarke delve into the intricate world of vehicular theft. With a keen eye for detail and a wealth of research at their fingertips, Maxfield and Clarke provide a comprehensive analysis of the factors driving car theft, the methods used by thieves, and the strategies for prevention.

This insightful work not only explores the criminal motivations behind car theft but also sheds light on the social and economic implications of this pervasive crime. By synthesizing empirical data and theoretical frameworks, the authors offer readers a nuanced understanding of how car theft intersects with broader issues of law enforcement, urban planning, and public policy.

"Understanding Car Theft" is an essential read for academics, practitioners, and anyone interested in the complexities of auto crime. Maxfield and Clarke's expertise shines through in this meticulously researched and thought-provoking exploration of a crime that affects countless individuals and communities worldwide.

Crime Prevention Studies Volume 17. Criminal Justice Press, Monsey, NY, USA. Willan Publishing, Cullompton, Devon, UK. 2004. 251p.

Behind the Badge: Revealing Escalating Mental Health Injuries Among RCMP Officers

By The National Police Foundation (Canada)

In the realm of public safety, Members of the RCMP play a vital and unique role, bearing the responsibility of upholding the law, protecting communities, and ensuring the well-being of Canadians, through municipal, provincial, and federal policing. Too often, they do so at risk of their own mental health and well-being. By choosing a life dedicated to the service of others through a career in public safety, they also accept the challenges and adversities inherent to their unique line of duty. Members are confronted daily with a myriad of stressors, risks, and emotionally taxing situations unique to their career which invariably take a toll on their psychological well-being. The very nature of their profession exposes them to violence, trauma, high-pressure situations, and a relentless demand for vigilance. This is compounded by organizational and operational stressors, mental health stigmatization, and a lack of comprehensive and accessible mental health services and supports. Over time, these factors have been shown to accumulate and lead to an array of mental health challenges, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and a heightened risk of suicidal behavior. Understanding the mental health challenges faced by Members is a crucial step toward caring for Members and enhancing the overall effectiveness and sustainability of the RCMP. By recognizing and addressing these challenges, we can work towards more resilient, healthier, and better equipped Members who can continue to serve and protect Canadian communities safely and effectively. The National Police Federation (NPF) has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of Members of the RCMP. Recognizing the unique challenges and stressors faced by our Members, the NPF has actively engaged in partnerships to research and address mental health issues within the RCMP. Most recently, the NPF in partnership with the University of Regina and the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), funded a survey of serving Members across Canada. The NPF would like to thank all Members who took the significant time and commitment to participate in this survey. Some of the questions were potentially traumatic and tough, but by providing their voice, Members are helping make a difference for current and future Members.

Ottawa: National Police Federation, 2024.26p.

Policing Citizens: Minority Policy in Israel

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By Guy Ben-Porat and Fany Yuval

What does police violence against minorities, or violent clashes between minorities and the police tell us about citizenship and its internal hierarchies? Indicative of deep-seated tensions and negative perceptions; incidents such as these suggest how minorities are vulnerable, suffer from or are subject to police abuse and neglect in Israel. Marked by skin colour, negatively stigmatized or rendered security threats, their encounters with police provide a daily reminder of their defunct citizenship. Taking as case studies the experiences and perceptions of four minority groups within Israel including Palestinian/Arab citizens, ultra-Orthodox Jews and Ethiopian and Russian immigrants, Ben-Porat and Yuval are able to explore different paths of citizenship and the stratification of the citizenship regime through relations with and perceptions of the police in Israel. Touching on issues such as racial profiling, police brutality and neighbourhood neglect, their study questions the notions of citizenship and belonging, shedding light on minority relationships with the state and its institutions.

CAMBRIDGE. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 2019. 251p.

Organizational Structure in American Police Agencies: Context, Complexity, and Control

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Edward R. Maguire

Although most large police organizations perform the same tasks, there is tremendous variation in how individual organizations are structured. To account for this variation, author Edward R. Maguire develops a new theory that attributes the formal structures of large municipal police agencies to the contexts in which they are embedded. This theory finds that the relevant features of an organization's context are its size, age, technology, and environment. Using a database representing nearly four hundred of the nation's largest municipal police agencies, Maguire develops empirical measures of police organizations and their contexts and then uses these measures in a series of structural equation models designed to test the theory. Ultimately, police organizations are shown to be like other types of organizations in many ways but are also shown to be unique in a number of respects.

NY. SUNY Press. 2003. 294p.

THE POLICE INA FREE SOCIETY: Safeguarding Rights While Enforcing the Law

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TODD DOUGLAS

As accusations of police misconduct and racial bias increasingly dominate the media, The Police in a Free Society: Safeguarding Rights While Enforcing the Law takes an unflinching look at the police, the communities they serve, and the politicians who direct them. Author Todd Douglas, a veteran state police commander, exposes the occurrences of police misconduct and incompetence as well as incidences of charlatans who intentionally inflame racial tensions with the police for their own political or financial gain.

Readers will better understand what police officers must deal with on a daily basis, grasp the role of lawmakers in keeping faith with the public, and appreciate the tremendous challenges that police leaders face in attempting to reverse recent trends and shore up public confidence in police officers. This is a rare glimpse into the often-ugly reality of what happens on America's streets, with insights gained from the perspective of the cop and suspect alike.

Praeger. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, Califomla • Denver, Colorado. 2017. 298p.

The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America

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Katherine Beckett and Theodore Sasson

The U.S. crime rate has dropped steadily for more than a decade, yet the rate of incarceration continues to skyrocket. Today, more than 2 million Americans are locked in prisons and jails with devastating consequences for poor families and communities, overcrowded institutions and overburdened taxpayers. How did the U.S. become the world′s leader in incarceration? Why have the numbers of women, juveniles, and people of color increased especially rapidly among the imprisoned?

The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America, Second Edition is the first book to make widely accessible the new research on crime as a political and cultural issue. Katherine Beckett and Theodore Sasson provide readers with a robust analysis of the roles of crime, politics, media imagery and citizen activism in the making of criminal justice policy in the age of mass incarceration.

Features of this text:

  • Critical Approach. Debunks myths about crime in the U.S., challenges many current anticrime policies that became harsher in the 1990s, and illuminates the political implications of crime and punishment.

  • Contemporary. Updated throughout with particular attention to Chapter 5, "Crime in the Media," including research and analyses of crime in the news, crime as entertainment, and the interplay of news media, entertainment, and crime.

  • Comprehensive Research. Draws on a wide range of scholarship, including research on crime′s representation in political discourse and the mass media, public opinion, crime-related activism, and public policy.

  • Consistent and Accessible. A great source to communicate new research to both non-specialists and specialists in accessible language with riveting, real-life examples.

Intended as a supplement for use in any criminal justice or criminology course, especially in the punishment, corrections and policy areas, The Politics of Injustice, Second Edition will appeal to those who take a critical approach to crime issues.

Pine Forge Press. Thousand Oakls, Califoria. 2000. 201p.

PROBLEM ORIENTED POLICING

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Herman Goldstein

In his seminal work on problem-oriented policing, Herman Goldstein emphasizes the importance of addressing the root causes of crime and disorder within communities. Goldstein’s book provides a framework for law enforcement agencies to shift their focus from reactive responses to proactive measures aimed at preventing recurring issues.

The core concept of problem-oriented policing lies in identifying specific problems within a community, analyzing the underlying factors contributing to those problems, and developing tailored strategies to mitigate them. By working collaboratively with community members, local organizations, and other stakeholders, law enforcement can implement sustainable solutions that address the root causes of crime and disorder.

Goldstein’s book serves as a guide for police departments looking to adopt a more proactive and community-centered approach to policing. By encouraging officers to engage with the community, gather data on recurring issues, and implement evidence-based strategies, problem-oriented policing offers a promising alternative to traditional law enforcement practices.

Overall, Herman Goldstein’s book on problem-oriented policing provides valuable insights and practical tools for law enforcement agencies seeking to build safer and more resilient communities through proactive problem-solving strategies.

NY. McGraw-Hill. 1990. 221p.

Community-Police Relations

Rand Corp.

In recent years, a number of serious conflicts between police officers and members of the communities they serve have raised the importance of effective community-police relations in the United States. Building on its policing and community-based participatory research portfolio, RAND designed a community-based dialogue to address this problem. The dialogue is designed to start a conversation about these issues among community stakeholders, including police, government agencies, social service providers, resident representatives, and other concerned organizations. RAND has also designed a youth-focused dialogue to address specific scenarios most relevant to youth-police interactions.

Business and Crime Prevention

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Edited by Marcus Felson and Ronald V. Clarke

Business should become a central theme in criminology and crime prevention should become a core concern among business leaders.Contributors to Business and Crime Prevention include academic criminologists, representatives of the British Home Office, security industry experts, insurance data analysts, and consultants to the retail and telecommunications industries. The authors discuss crime prevention initiatives now underway in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Holland and the US.

Criminal Justice Press, Jan 1, 1997 , 293 pages

Implementing Information Science in Policing: Mapping the Evidence Base

By  Kate Bowers , Lisa Tompson and Shane D. Johnson

In many disciplines, there is a wealth of primary evaluation research on what works, and systematic reviews that synthesize that evidence. This is, of course, extremely positive. However, the sheer scale of the information and the way in which it is indexed and presented can mean that it is difficult for practitioners to locate the best available evidence. For this reason, in health, education, and other disciplines, using techniques from information science, researchers have systematically assembled databases such as those hosted on healthevidence.org and educationendowmentfoundation.org which bring together the most reliable evidence. Hitherto, no such database has existed for crime and criminal justice interventions. This article sets out some of the challenges and early findings of one exercise which aims to produce such a database, being completed as part of the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction initiative in collaboration with the College of Policing. 

Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, Volume 17, 2023

The use of penalty notices for first time drink- and drug-driving offences in NSW

By Neil Donnelly and Sara Rahman

To understand whether the introduction of penalty notices in New South Wales (NSW) for first time low, special and novice range drink-driving and drug-driving offences reduced the number of court appearances and increased the certainty of licence sanctions for these offences. Data was obtained from the NSW Police Force’s Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS) for all first time low, special and novice range exceed the prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA) incidents and first time drug-driving incidents occurring between 5 December 2016 to 1 March 2020. We used a combination of interrupted time series analysis, and descriptive analysis respectively to determine the changes in CANs and dismissals post-reform. We used logistic regression to identify significant correlates of receiving a penalty notice among the first time PCA and drug-driving offenders in our sample. The introduction of penalty notices significantly reduced the number of CANs issued for first time low, special and novice range PCA offences by 81.0%, or 4,779 fewer CANs than predicted. For first time drug-driving there was a significant, though smaller (29.8%) reduction in CANs (or 1,118 fewer CANs issued). These changes also translated into decreases in court dismissals and conditional discharges. Among first time low, special and novice range PCA offenders, the percentage receiving a court dismissal or conditional discharge decreased from 51.5% to 8.0% while among first time drug-driving offenders it decreased from 28.0% to 15.2%. Among both first time low, special and novice range PCA offenders and drug-driving offenders, having no concurrent offences and no prior proceedings to court in the previous 5 years predicted receipt of a penalty notice. The smaller reduction in court appearances for drug-driving was primarily due to those charged with this offence having more concurrent and prior offences. The introduction of penalty notices significantly reduced the number of court appearances for first time low, special and novice range PCA offences and to a lesser extent, first time drug-driving offences, and decreased the percentage of offenders who received a court dismissal or conditional discharge for these offences.

Sydney:  NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2023. 22p.

Population and Subgroup Differences in the Prevalence and Predictors of Campus Sexual Assault to Inform Preventive Interventions

By Lisa Fedina; Rich Tolman; Todd Herrenkohl

This paper addresses gaps in available prevalence data on campus sexual assault rates found among women, including demographic differences among student groups and variations in characteristics of college campuses. The research study also investigated how attitudes and norms vary across college campuses and whether characteristics of those campuses can help explain variations in experiences at the individual (student) level, by analyzing data from the Sexual Assault Prevention for Undergraduates (SAPU) online sexual assault prevention education program. Data from SAPU includes a large, demographically diverse sample of college students, which allows for in-depth investigation of the prevalence and predictors of sexual assault victimization and perpetration across different types of college campuses; it also includes contemporaneous measures of sexual assault victimization and perpetration during the highest period of risk, early in students’ first year of college. The five stated aims of the research study were: to examine variation in school-level prevalence of sexual assault victimization and perpetration by school type, size, and region from academic year (AY) 2016-2017 to 2019-2020; to assess subgroup differences in school-level prevalence of sexual assault victimization and perpetration, accounting for school region, size, and type; to investigate the relationship between attitudes and perceptions of campus norms and self-reports of sexual assault victimization and perpetration, accounting for precampus sexual assault and individual demographics and school characteristics; to examine the variation in the relationship between attitudes and perceptions of campus norms and self-reports of sexual assault victimization and perpetration by subgroups, accounting for precampus sexual assault and individual and school characteristics; and to examine variation in bystander intentions, efficacy, and behaviors and self-reports of sexual assault victimization and perpetration by subgroups, accounting for attitudes, perceptions of campus norms, and precampus sexual assault, as well as individual and school characteristics. 

Final Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2024. 20p.

Deconstructing Burglary

By Ira P. Robbins

The law of burglary has long played a vital role in protecting hearth and home. Because of the violation of one’s personal space, few crimes engender more fear than burglary; thus, the law should provide necessary safety and security against that fear. Among other things, current statutes aim to deter trespassers from committing additional crimes by punishing them more severely based on their criminal intent before they execute their schemes. Burglary law even protects domestic violence victims against abusers who attempt to invade their lives and terrorize them. However, the law of burglary has expanded and caused so many problems that some commentators now argue for its elimination. Given broad discretion, prosecutors use burglary to over-punish a wide variety of offenses. The law can even encompass mere instances of shoplifting. Additionally, by punishing perpetrators before they accomplish their target crimes, burglary law often acts as a general law of attempts. Much of the law’s expansion stems from adding the word “remaining” to many burglary statutes. This inclusion allows burglary convictions in circumstances in which a perpetrator enters a structure legally, but then “remains unlawfully.” While this language has led to confusion among courts and legislatures about the scope of burglary, there is scant legal literature addressing this confusion. Scholars have yet to untangle the conflicting interpretations of unlawful remaining, and legislatures have failed to provide guidance that captures the nuances of burglary law. This Article unravels the complexities of burglary law and proposes a model statute that retains burglary law for its protective purposes, while also considering its problematic expansion.

UC Davis Law Review, vol. 57, February 2024

The Truth Behind Crime Statistics: Avoiding Distortions and Improving Public Safety

By: Kesha Moore, Ryan Tom, Jackie O’Neil

Promoting public safety is serious business and requires precise, thoughtful analysis, not distortions designed to evoke fear and anger.

We model the contextual analysis of crime data needed to guide an effective approach to improving public safety.

Unsubstantiated crime narratives prevent us from understanding the factors contributing to recent increases in violent crime and undermine our investments in evidence-based solutions. Misdiagnosing the causes of crime compromises public safety, similar to when a doctor misdiagnoses you with the wrong ailment and subsequently prescribes medication that fails to address your underlying issues while exacerbating your condition.

Politicians have lobbed disparaging attacks against criminal justice reforms despite contradictory evidence. Public officials, regardless of party affiliation, create fear-mongering narratives about why crimes are happening to convince the public that their strategy is correct. Whether it is Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) incorrectly arguing that crime would increase without aggressive prosecutors and increased police funding, or New York City’s Democratic Mayor, Eric Adams, blaming the city’s bail reforms for increases in crime, public actors disparage criminal justice reforms based on false and inaccurate premises. These political actors engage in this rhetoric despite research studies proving their assertions are flatly wrong. This rhetoric leads to harmful and counterproductive policies that aim to increase policing and incarceration, which particularly harm Black people. Unfortunately, the pattern of peddling harmful “tough-on-crime” narratives is not new, but a cyclical component of U.S. history.

Promoting public safety is serious business that requires precise, thoughtful analysis, not distortions designed to evoke fear and anger. Crime is a complex and varied phenomenon, and solutions to address crime must be grounded in data, equity, and fairness. The need for accurate assessments is critical, lest false narratives and distorted data contribute to the harming of communities by law enforcement, just as they did in the War on Drugs. Here, we examine three false narratives presented by politicians and the media to explain the recent increase in homicides nationwide: the expansion of bail reform, practices of progressive prosecutors, and calls to defund the police. Our analysis reveals that the empirical data contradicts these narratives. Our data substantiates other reasons for a spike in homicide rates: pandemic-induced instability and econmic inequality.

Washington, DC: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 2020. 41p.

Participation in organised sport to improve and prevent adverse developmental trajectories of at-risk youth: A systematic review

By Trine Filges, Mette Verner, Else Ladekjær, Elizabeth Bengtsen

Background: Healthy after‐school activities such as participation in organised sport have been shown to serve as important resources for reducing school failure and other problem/high‐risk behaviour. It remains to be established to what extent organised sport participation has positive impacts on young people in unstable life circumstances. Objectives: What are the effects of organised sport on risk behaviour, personal, emotional and social skills of young people, who either have experienced or are at‐risk of experiencing an adverse outcome? Search Methods: The database searches were carried out in March 2023 and other sources were searched in May 2023. We searched to identify both published and unpublished literature. Selection Criteria: The intervention was participation in leisure time organised sport. Young people between 6 and 18 years of age, who either have experienced or are at‐risk of experiencing an adverse outcome were eligible. Primary outcomes were problem/high‐risk behaviour and a secondary outcomes social and emotional outcomes. Studies that used a control group were eligible for. Studies that utilised qualitative approaches were not. Data Collection and Analysis: The number of potentially relevant studies was 43,716. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Only seven studies could be used in the data synthesis. Five studies were judged to have a critical risk of bias and were excluded from the meta‐analysis. One study did not report data that enabled the calculation of effect sizes and standard errors. Meta‐analyses were conducted on each conceptual outcome separately. All analyses were inverse variance weighted using random effects statistical models. Main Results: Two studies were from Canada, one from Australia, and the remaining from the USA. The timespan of the interventions was 23 years, from 1995 to 2018. The median number of participants analysed was 316, and the median number of controls was 452. A number of primary outcomes were reported but each in a single study only. Concerning secondary outcomes, two studies reported the effect on overall psychosocial adjustment at post‐intervention. The standardised mean difference was 0.70 (95% CI 0.28–1.11). There was a small amount of heterogeneity. Three studies reported on depressive symptoms at 0–3 years follow‐up. The standardised mean difference was 0.02 (95% CI −0.01 to 0.06). There was no heterogeneity between the three studies. In addition, a number of other secondary outcomes were reported each in a single study only. Authors' Conclusions: There were too few studies included in the meta‐analyses in order for us to draw any conclusion. The dominance of Northern America clearly limiting the generalisability of the findings. The majority of the studies were not considered to be of overall high quality and the process of excluding studies with critical risk of bias from the meta‐analysis applied in this review left us with only 7 of a total of 13 possible studies to synthesise. Further, because too few studies reported results on the same type of outcome, at most three studies could be combined in a particular meta‐analysis and no meta‐analysis could be performed on any of the primary outcomes.

Campbell Systematic Reviews. 2024;20:e1381.

Examining the Efficacy of Circles on School Safety and Student Outcomes in Boston Public Schools: Final Report

By Roger Jarjoura; Christina LiCalsi; Melissa Yisak; Lauren Stargel; Amelia Auchstetter

The current study presents implementation and impact findings of a cluster randomized control trial examining a school-wide restorative practices model called Circle Forward. Overall, the study team found implementation of Circle Forward generally was happening as intended in the intervention schools. The Tier 1 training occurred as planned and the circles that staff were implementing in schools fit the CF model both in terms of format and expected behavior. The one implementation area that was lower than expected were staff attendance rates at the Tier 1 training. Previous research has indicated that multi-tiered professional development is important for implementation of restorative practices, including initial Tier 1 training that is school-wide and covers basic restorative principles to build knowledge and buy in. Each intervention school had a dedicated group of RLT members who implemented circles, planned professional development about circles, provided ongoing support for implementation, and helped encourage staff to use circles in their classrooms. With support from RLT staff as well as knowledge gained from the Tier 1 training, staff could create avenues for students to share their thoughts. Often, school staff implemented advisory circles with their students, which encouraged them to connect with others by voicing their opinions and discussing personal and nonacademic topics. Through this process, students also learned more about their peers and teachers and developed stronger relationships. In turn, these positive staff-student relationships and relationships between students helped build a positive, inclusive classroom climate. This finding is consistent with earlier research describing teacher and student perspectives in Tier 1 circle implementation and how it created space for student ownership and voice, as well as the clear connection to broader social-emotional learning. Further, others have indicated the importance of explicitly considering student participation and inclusion as a basic indicator of restorative practices implementation.

Arlington, VA: American Institutes for Research, 2023. 47p.

California Law Enforcement Agencies are Spending More but Solving Fewer Crimes

By Mike Males

California is not “defunding the police” nor implementing lenient criminal justice reforms – just the opposite. State spending on law enforcement has risen sharply, even after adjustments for inflation and population growth. The odds of being imprisoned per arrest have risen to near-record heights. However, despite record spending on California law enforcement agencies in recent years, one of the core measures of law enforcement effectiveness— crime clearance rates — has fallen to historically low levels. An agency’s clearance rate is the share of Part I violent and property crimes2 that are considered solved after law enforcement makes an arrest. Over the past three decades, these clearance rates fell by 41%, from a 22.3% clearance rate in 1990 to 13.2% in 2022, which equates to fewer than one in seven crimes solved (Figure 1, Table 1). California’s decline in overall clearance rates has been driven by falling property felony clearances (-59%), though the solve rate for violent felonies also fell during the 1990 – 2022 period (-14%).

San Francisco, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. 2024, 8pg

When police pull back: Neighborhood-level effects of de-policing on violent and property crime, a research note

By Justin Nix, Jessica Huff

Many U.S. cities witnessed both de-policing and increased crime in 2020, yet whether the former con-tributed to the latter remains unclear. Indeed, much of what is known about the effects of proactive policing on crime comes from studies that evaluated highly focused interventions atypical of day-to-day policing,used cities as the unit of analysis, or could not rule out endogeneity. This study addresses each of these issues,thereby advancing the evidence base concerning the effects of policing on crime. Leveraging two exogenous shocks presented by the onset of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and social unrest after the mur-der of George Floyd, we evaluated the effects of sudden and sustained reductions in high-discretion policing on crime at the neighborhood level in Denver, Colorado.Multilevel models accounting for trends in prior police activity, neighborhood structure, seasonality, and popu-lation mobility revealed mixed results. On the one hand,large-scale reductions in stops and drug-related arrests were associated with significant increases in violentThis is an open access article under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivsLicense, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made and property crimes, respectively. On the other hand,fewer disorder arrests did not affect crime. These results were not universal across neighborhoods. We discuss the implications of these findings in light of debates concerning the appropriate role of policing in the 21st century.

United States, Criminology. 2023, 16pg