Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Governing Through Crime

Criminal Law

: Governing Through Crime

The Promise of Police

By Jonathan Simor

Some of the smartest people I know who think hard about criminal justice from academic posts think that police offer a promising alternative to mass incarceration as a way to address crime in American communities (Bill Stuntz, David Sklansky, Frank Zimring, Justin McCrary among many others). A well reported article by Chip Johnson in today's SFChron offers an intriguing picture of that promise. Crimes reported to the police are dramatically lower than for the first quarter of last year.Since Jan. 1, felony crimes against people and property have dropped 23 percent, according to the Oakland Police Department.Homicides alone decreased by 50 percent, to 14 slayings from 29 over the same period a year ago. Robberies fell by 16 percent during the same period, while auto theft dropped by one-third...continue to full post

Full post as published by Governing Through Crime on March 13, 2009 (boomark / email).