Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America(Studies in Crime and Public Policy)

In Crime is Not the Problem, Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins revolutionize the way we think about crime and violence--by forcing us to distinguish between crime and violence. The authors reveal that compared to other industrialized nations, in most categories of nonviolent crime, American crime rates are comparable--even lower, in some cases. Only when it comes to lethal violence does the United States outpace other Western nations, with homicide rates many, many times greater. London and New York City have nearly the same number of robberies and burglaries each year, but robbers and burglars kill 54 victims in New York for every victim death in London. Why are the risks so much greater that victims will be killed or maimed in the United States? And what can be done to bring the death rate from American violence down to tolerable levels? The authors show how the impact of television and movie violence on rates of homicide is wildly overrated, but emphasize the paramount importance of guns. By making the crucial distinction between lethal violence and crime in general, the authors clear the ground for a targeted, far more effective response to the real crisis in American society. Crime is Not the Problem will reshape the debate about crime control in the United States.

About the Author :
Franklin E. Zimring is the William F. Simon Professor of Law and Director of the Earl Warren Legal Institute at the University of California at Berkeley. Gordon Hawkins is Senior Fellow at the Earl Warren Legal Institute at the University of California at Berkeley.

Review :
This will almost certainly come to be regarded as a seminal book....It lucidly demonstrates something which, ever since the international comparative victim survey data began to become available, most of us have known but have never really thought through-namely, that what makes the US distinctive in terms of crime, is not that its overall crime rate is exceptional, but that it has an extraordinarily high level of violent crime, particularly lethal violence.--The British Journal of Criminology "Professors Zimring and Hawkins' brilliant analysis of violence in the United States offers unique insights into the dilemma. One can only hope that policy makers pay attention to the authors' pragmatic suggestions for innovative policies to diminish this singularly American problem."--Joseph D. McNamara, former Police Chief, San Jose, California, and Research Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University "Crime Is Not the Problem is a watershed in the analysis of what to do about crime and violence. At last, social science data from this country and abroad is drawn into policy recommendations of determinative importance to the prevention and punishment of violence. At last criminology grows up."--Noval Morris, Professor Emeritus of Law and Criminology, University of Chicago "This book demonstrates that America's truly phenomenal level of life-threatening violence is not closely related to its crime levels, its numbers of criminals, or even its volume of non-lethal violence. The authors reveal why wars on crime usually miss their mark, and they describe vastly more promising paths for our nation to explore. The zenith of productive collaboration of Zimring and Hawkins,Crime Is Not the Problem is certain to become a landmark."--Albert W. Alschuler, Wilson-Dickinson Professor, the University of Chicago Law School "This book cuts through the usual rhetoric to lay bare the real characteristics of lethal violence. It is essential reading for anyone attempting to develop effective public strategies for dealing with this very serious problem."--Peter Greenwood, Director, RAND Criminal Justice Program "This book represents exactly the kind of clarity, vigor, and intelligence that the issues of crime and violence need and rarely get. On topic after topic--drug wars, deterrence, prison policy--there are important insights to be found in this study."--Lawrence M. Friedman, Marion Rice Kirkwood Professor of Law, Stanford Law School Professor of Law, Stanford Law School "This is the most important book written about guns and violence in the United States in years. Zimring and Hawkins up-end the conventional wisdom and make a compelling and utterly convincing argument that crime is not America's major problem, for our rates of crime are no higher than other industrialized countries: Gun violence is the problem.--Deborah Leff, President, the Joyce Foundation "Zimring and Hawkins persuasively argue that we live with distinctively high levels of lethal violence, within a high-gun-use environment, where the most lethal forms of violence are concentrated in the least-advantaged inner-city communities. Their analysis suggests important questions that may indeed change the subject from crime to violence, as the authors hope."--Law & Society "This will almost certainly come to be regarded as a seminal book....It lucidly demonstrates something which...most of us have known but have never really though through--namely, that what makes the US distinctive in terms of crime is not that its overall crime rate is exceptional, but that it has an extraordinarily high level of violent crime, particularly lethal violence."--The British Journal of Criminology "Thoroughly documented; will stir debate."--Booklist