TRENDS IN ADULT VIOLENT CRIME

This essay summarizes the statistical trends in the incidence of violent crimes committed by adults in the United States in recent years and discusses possible explanations therefore, with special reference to law enforcement and criminal justice related reasons. The available research suggests that a substantial decline in the rate of adult violent crime has taken place in the 1990s in large American cities (with populations of 250,000 or more). That decline is due in part to causes which are unrelated to the efforts of government at all levels to reduce and control such crimes, demographic factors, and to others, such as changing patterns of illegal drug use, which are only partially related to crime suppression measures. In the short run, a combination of changes in the character and scale of police work, longer and more mandatory criminal sentences and tougher parole and work release practices by corrections systems have helped reduce violent crime. In the longer run, a continuation of present downward trends may depend on greater emphasis on more intelligent emphasis by the police at local levels being placed on community-based policing and more active involvement by the police at the neighborhood level in all areas.

Trends in Rates of Adult Violent Crime

Violent crime is generally defined in the two principal statistical indices thereof, the Uniform Crime Statistics (UCR) compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigatio

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natory police practices, inner city conditions in which many racial and ethnic minorities live have more to with crime, including violent crime, than does the Dow Jones average. The improved economy might explain a decline in white collar crime or crimes against property but not a decline in murder or rape. A major change has occurred in the inner city illegal drug culture since the late 80s. At that time crack cocaine was the drug of choice for many. Today, it is less popular, in part because of changing taste and has largely been replaced by heroin which is less implicated than crack cocaine in bizarre, violent personal behavior for several reasons. For one thing, it is cheaper, the cost of crack cocaine having been driven up by vigorous federal drug interdiction efforts and local law enforcement. Blacks have vociferously complained about the extra criminal penalties meted out by many jurisdiction to users of crack cocaine, almost all of whom are street persons as compared with those suffered by users of cocaine in powder form, who generally indulge within the privacy of their homes. Also, the cocaine trade has matured which has meant fewer violent turf wars among rival gangs. Role of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
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Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)