San
Francisco
Beats
New
York
at
Crime
Reduction
10/29/99
A new study has found that San Francisco has been more effective at fighting violent crime than New York City. Since 1995, violent crime has dropped faster in San Francisco (33%) than in New York (26%). Meanwhile, San Francisco has reduced the number of individuals it sends to prison from 2,136 in 1993 to 703 in 1998. The study is called "Shattering 'Broken Windows': An Analysis of San Francisco's Liberal Crime Policies," and is the first of its kind in 1999 to compare crime rates in cities and counties nationwide. The study was conducted by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), a project of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ). JPI and CJCJ have offices in San Francisco, Washington, DC and Baltimore. Report authors Khaled Taqi-Eddin and associate director, Dan Macallair have been conducting research for the report since March, 1999. "This study debunks the notion that longer and more punitive sentences are the most effective ways to fight crime," said Taqi-Eddin, the report's co-author and CJCJ Policy Analyst. "If you think sending more people to prison for longer sentences is what's behind the drop in crime, how can you explain San Francisco?" Since 1992, San Francisco achieved greater declines in violent crime than ten major cities, including New York. Since 1992, violent crime has dropped 47 percent in San Francisco, 46 percent in Los Angeles, 34 percent in Boston, 25 percent in Chicago, and 46 percent in New York City. The study drew on the latest available data compiled by the FBI, the Census Bureau, the California Criminal Justice Statistics Center, the California Youth Authority and the California Department of Corrections. Ten national comparison cities were chosen based on their designation by the United States Justice Department for having effective crime policies: Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Jacksonville, New Orleans, New York City, Phoenix and Washington, DC. In addition, San Francisco was compared to the three largest California cities, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, and to the eight largest California counties. The study argues against the notion that prison and increased arrests of minor offenses is the most effective way to combat crime. In 1982, conservative theorists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling introduced the "broken windows" theory of crime that argues that stricter enforcement and longer sentences for nonviolent crimes, such as vandalism or drug offenses, prevent more serious, violent offenses. The most famous implementation of this theory has been by New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, who has stepped up enforcement of low level offenses including jay walking, vagrancy, and public intoxication. Study authors Taqi-Eddin and Macallair argue that some elements of the "broken windows" approach have worked, such as community policing, while others, such as curfew laws, have not been shown to reduce crime. In terms of reducing juvenile crime in particular, the authors argue that "diversion" programs -- which send youth offenders to job training, drug treatment and counseling -- are more effective than prison. San Francisco has relied less on the California Youth Authority and more on programs like the Detention Diversion Advocacy Project (DDAP), which was singled by out the US Justice Department as a model program for preventing repeat offenses. "Shattering 'Broken Windows'" can be found online at http://www.cjcj.org/jpi/windows.html.
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