Crime Is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America

By Franklin E. Zimring and Gordon Hawkins

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195131053
• ISBN13: 9780195131055
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Important book

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.

Thoughtful Review of the American Crime Problem

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.