Violent crime in America shot up sharply in the mid-1980s and continued to climb until 1991, after which something unprecedented occurred. The crime level declined to a level not seen since the 1960s. This revised edition of The Crime Drop in America focuses first on the dramatic drop in crime rates in America in the 1990s, and then, in a new epilogue, on the patterns since 2000. The separate chapters written by distinguished experts cover the many factors affecting crime rates: policing, incarceration, drug markets, gun control, economics, and demographics. Detailed analyses emphasize the mutual effects of changes in crack markets, a major focus of youth violence, and the drop in rates of violence following decline in demand for crack. The contrasts between the crime-drop period of the 1990s and the period since 2000 are explored in the new epilogue, which also reviews major new developments in thinking about the causes and control of crime.

• Offers a timely, critical assessment on a topic of wide public concern and heated debate
• Distinguised experts convering each of various factors including: policing, incarceration, drug markets, gun control, economics, etc.
• Updates on recent changes in these areas

1. The recent rise and fall of American violence
2. Some recent trends in U.S. violence
3. Guns and gun violence
4. The limited importance of prison expansion
5. Patterns in adult homicide: 1980-1995
6. The rise and decline of hard drugs, drug markets, and violence in inner-city New York
7. Have changes in policing reduced violent crime
8. An economic model of recent trends in violence
9. Demographics and U.S. homicide