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

Franklin E. Zimring (Author), Gordon Hawkins (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195131053 | ISBN-13: 978-0195131055 | Publication Date: May 27, 1999 | Edition: 1

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It is a mistake, urge the authors, director and fellow, respectively, of the Earl Warren Legal Institute at the University of California at Berkeley, to conflate "crime" and "violence" as perhaps the most serious problem in the U.S. In most forms of nonviolent property crime, both nation-to-nation and city-to-city comparisons between the U.S. and other developed countries display remarkable similarities; only in terms of lethal violence (crimes that produce death or serious injury) is the U.S. four to eighteen times "ahead" of other nations--and it's lethal violence that generates widespread public fear. Zimring and Hawkins analyze those patterns; review causality studies with an eye to lethal violence, judging media violence less important and gun availability more central than conventional wisdom admits (illegal drugs are a factor, but the authors find them a contingent factor in lethal violence); and suggest changes in criminal law practice and adoption of multifaceted loss-prevention strategies to prevent and reduce the human cost of lethal violence. Thoroughly documented; will stir debate. Mary Carroll --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 and 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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (May 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195131053
• ISBN-13: 978-0195131055
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,011,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important book, December 8, 2000

By 

Tom Durkin "Tom Durkin" (Dennis, Mass, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America (Studies in Crime and Public Policy) (Paperback)

I have used this book in several classes (In Florida & SC--so I am happy that Inga isn't one of my students)w/ great success. Changing the frames of CJ policy is crucial, expecially after this most recent election (it may be over by the time you see this). In sum: Lethal criminal violence sets the US apart, and much of what we do about it is irrelevant &/or misguided. Zimring's formidable data analysis is convincing--not that we embrace simplistic and ineffective programs like capital punishment, 3 strikes, or gun registration--but that we have much more work to do. Zimring's calls for inductive policy development highlight the difficult and ongoing choices that we will make. We can either continue the haphazard & simplistic policies of the [year 2000] presidential candidates (& at least one college freshman) or we can actually prepare to do some hard work.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful Review of the American Crime Problem, August 8, 2000

By 

Rodger Doyle (Buffalo, ny USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crime is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America (Studies in Crime and Public Policy) (Hardcover)

Zimring and Hawkins provide a thorough and well-documented analysis of the reasons why homicide in America is so much more pervasive than in other industrialized countries. For journalists such as myself, this is one of the indispensible works. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to understand America's crime problem.

9 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars blah blah blah yada yada, November 29, 1999

By 

inge - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America (Studies in Crime and Public Policy) (Paperback)

Ok, if you're thinking of buying it, first ask yourself "is misery really my friend?" if the answer is "yes" then by all means go buy this book. Of course if you have to read it for a class as i had to, I suppose you have no choice but to get it. I would tell you what its about, but my brain is still not back to normal functioning after trying to make sense of this garble. I think the title sums the whole thing up to be honest. Crime is not the problem, it's the lethal violence that is the problem. The book poses some questions, also suggests some vague answers. Ugh. Ewe. Spit spit. Have fun!