Police are more important in "the maintenance of orderly neighborhoods" than in "crime control" (74). We expect too much from police, who are only one part of anti-crime efforts.
Chapter 5 further explores the role of police. Wilson says that the most important thing the police can do is to prevent neighborhoods from becoming unlivable because of crime. They cannot prevent crime, but they can be used effectively in experimental ways to maintain order in the community.
Chapter 6 explores the importance of community relations for police. Police will have a greater effect in fighting crime if they have good relations with the people in the community. The better the attitudes of police toward the citizens and of citizens toward the police, the better the ability of the police to do their work with the help of that community. The problem is that "There is a fundamental, and . . . inescapable conflict between strategies designed to cut street crime (saturation patrols, close surveillance) and those designed to minimize tensions (avoid 'street stops,' reduce surveillance, ignore youth groups)" (114).
Chapter 7 argues that criminals respond to cost/benefit realities just as much as non-criminals just as much as non-criminals. In other words, the more certain they are that they will be caught and punished, the less likely it is they will commit the crime.
In Chapter 8, Wilson argues that incapacitation---imprisonment---is the best way to protect the community and its values and to reduce crime. By locking up a criminal, we do not have to waste time theorizing about human nature.
Chapter 9 argues that, for the most part, criminals do not become rehabilitated in prison. Rehabilitation has not worked. Treating criminals with loose supervision does not change their criminal behavior.
Chapter 10 argues that too much emphasis is put on the death penalty. Wilson does not believe
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