Consider some of the recent debates over the power of (NYPD) policing in reducing crime and the prison population:
John Tierney, “Prison Population Can Shrink When Police Crowd Streets,” The New York Times. January 25, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/26/nyregion/police-have-done-more-than-prisons-to-cut-crime-in-new-york.html?smid=pl-share
While the American prison population has doubled in the past two decades, New York City has reduced its numbers as its crime has declined over the same period.Emily Badger, “The Study That Could Upend Everything We Thought We Knew About Declining Urban Crime,” The Atlantic Cities. February 7, 2013.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2013/02/was-nypd-really-responsible-new-yorks-famous-drop-crime/4616/
Was the NYPD really responsible for New York’s famous crime drop? The article cites a recent study by New York University sociologist David Greenberg: “Studying New York City’s Crime Decline: Methodological Issues,” Justice Quarterly. January 10, 2013. Greenberg explains, “Our findings suggest they are much safer, but not because of what the New York Police Department is doing.”
