Hostname: page-component-5447f9dfdb-lxwkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-31T04:25:25.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of the Police on Crime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2024

James Q. Wilson  and
Barbara Boland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The effect of police practices on the rate of robbery in 35 large American cities is estimated by a set of simultaneous equations. The measures of police resources (patrol units on the street) and police activity on the street (moving citations issued) are more precise than anything thus far available in studies of this kind and permit the use of identification restrictions that allow stronger inferences about the causal effect of arrests on crime rates than has heretofore been possible. Police resources and police activity independently affect the robbery rate after controlling for various socioeconomic factors. The political arrangements that lead to the use of aggressive patrol strategies are discussed and their effect estimated. The implications for, and limitations upon, policy are also discussed.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 12 , Issue 3: Special Issue on Criminal Justice , Spring 1978 , pp. 367 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © 1978 The Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

The authors wish to thank Ralph Gants and Olsen Lee for their able assistance in gathering and processing data and Jan Chaiken, Robert Crain, Franklin Fisher, Robert Gillespie, David F. Greenberg, Zvi Griliches, Richard Muth, and William Scanlon for their comments on an earlier version. The research for this paper was supported by a grant to The Urban Institute from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA). Neither the Institute nor LEAA is responsible for the views presented here.

References

ALLISON, John P. (1972) “Economic Factors and the Rate of Crime,” 48 Land Economics 193.Google Scholar
BAILEY, William C. (no date) “Certainty of Arrest and Crime Rates for Major Felonies.” Cleveland State University, mimeo.Google Scholar
BANFIELD, Edward C. and James Q., WILSON (1963) City Politics. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
BLOCK, Michael K. (1972) An Economic Analysis of Theft with Special Emphasis on Household Decisions under Uncertainty. Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, Stanford University.Google Scholar
BOYDSTUN, John E. (1975) San Diego Field Interrogation: Final Report Washington, D.C.: Police Foundation.Google Scholar
BOYDSTUN, John E., Michael E., SHERRY and Nichalos P., MOELTEN (1977) Patrol Staffing in San Diego. Washington, D.C.: Police Foundation.Google Scholar
CHAIKEN, Jan M. (1977) What's Known about Deterrent Effects of Police Activity. Santa Monica, California: RAND Corp. (mimeo).Google Scholar
CHAIKEN, Jan M., Michael W., LAWLESS and Keith A., STEVENSON (1974) “The Impact of Police Activity on Subway Crime,” 3 Urban Analysis 173.Google Scholar
CHAPMAN, Jeffrey I. (1973) The Impact of Police on Crime and Crime on Police Los Angeles: UCLA Institute of Government and Public Affairs (mimeo).Google Scholar
CLAWSON, Calvin and Samson K., CHANG (1977) “The Relationship of Response Delays and Arrest Rates,” 5 Journal of Police Science and Administration 53.Google Scholar
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (1976) Crime in the United States, 1975. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
FISHER, Franklin M. and Daniel, NAGIN (1978) “On the Feasibility of Identifying the Crime Function in a Simultaneous Model of Crime Rates and Sanction Levels,” in Blumstein, Alfred, Cohen, Jacqueline and Nagin, Daniel (eds.), Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
FORST, Brian, Judith, LUCIANOVIC and Sarah J., COX (1977) What Happens after Arrest Washington, D.C.: Institute for Law and Social Research.Google Scholar
GREENWOOD, Michael J. and Walter J., WADYCKI (1973) “Crime Rates and Public Expenditures for Police Protection: Their Interaction,” 31 Review of Social Economy 138.Google Scholar
INTERNATIONAL CITY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (1971) The Municipal Yearbook, 1971. Washington, D.C.: International City Management Association.Google Scholar
ISAACS, Herbert (1967) “A Study of Communications, Crimes and Arrests in a Metropolitan Police Department,” in President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, Task Force Report: Science and Technology Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
KELLING, George L., Tony, PATE, Duane, DIECKMAN and Charles E., BROWN (1974) The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. Washington, D.C.: Police Foundation.Google Scholar
LEIBENSTEIN, Harvey (1976) Beyond Economic Man Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
LOGAN, Charles H. (1975) “Arrest Rates and Deterrence,” 55 Social Science Quarterly 376.Google Scholar
McPHETERS, Lee R. and William B., STRONGE (1974) “Law Enforcement Expenditures and Urban Crime,” 27 National Tax Journal 644.Google Scholar
NAGIN, Daniel (1978) “General Deterrence: A Review of the Empirical Evidence,” in Blumstein, Alfred, Cohen, Jacqueline and Nagin, Daniel (eds.), Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
PHILLIPS, Llad and Harold L., VOTEY Jr. (1972a) “An Economic Analysis of the Deterrent Effect of Law Enforcement on Criminal Activity,” 63 Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science 330.Google Scholar
PHILLIPS, Llad (1972b) “Police Effectiveness and the Production Function for Law Enforcement,” 1 Journal of Legal Studies 423.Google Scholar
POGUE, Thomas F. (1972) “Effect of Police Expenditures on Crime Rates: Some Evidence,” 3 Public Finance Quarterly 14.Google Scholar
PRESS, S. James (1971) Some Effects of an Increase in Police Manpower in the 20th Precinct of New York City. New York: RAND Corp.Google Scholar
PRESSMAN, I. and A., CAROL (1971) “Crime as a Diseconomy of Scale,” 29 Review of Social Economy 227.Google Scholar
SJOQUIST, David Lawrence (1973) “Property Crime and Economic Behavior: Some Empirical Results,” 63 American Economic Review 439.Google Scholar
SKOLNICK, Jerome H. (1966) Justice Without Trial New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
SWIMMER, Gene (1974) “The Relationship of Police and Crime,” 12 Criminology. 293.Google Scholar
TITTLE, Charles R. and Alan R., ROWE (1974) “Certainty of Arrest and Crime Rates: A Further Test of the Deterrence Hypothesis,” 52 Social Forces 455.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (1972a) “Housing Characteristics for States, Cities, and Counties,” in I(1) 1970 Census of Housing Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (1972b) “Characteristics of the Population,” in I (1-52) 1970 Census of Population Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (1972c) Employment Profiles of Selected Low Income Areas Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (1972d) Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (1973a) “Taxable Property Values and Assessment—Sales Price Ratios,” in II(2) 1972 Census of Government. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (1973b) County-City Data Book, 1972. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (1977) Population Estimates and Projections. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (1974a) Crime in Eight American Cities. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (1974b) Crime in the Nations Five Largest Cities. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (1976) Area Trends in Employment and Unemployment. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
WILSON, James Q. (1968) Varieties of Police Behavior. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
WILSON, James Q. and Edward C., BANFIELD (1964) “Public-Regardingness as a Value Premise in Voters' Behavior,” 58 American Political Science Review 876.Google Scholar
WILSON, James Q. (1971) “Political Ethos Revisited,” 65 American Political Science Review 1048.Google Scholar
WILSON, James Q. and Barbara, BOLAND (1976) “Crime,” in Gorham, William and Glazer, Nathan (eds.), The Urban Predicament. Washington, D.C.: The Urban Institute.Google Scholar
ZIMRING, Franklin (1975) Dealing with Youth Crime. Chicago: University of Chicago Law School (mimeo).Google Scholar