Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence by Patrick SharkeyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The author follows up his Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress toward Racial Equality supporting continued urban focus from policing and other government bodies with a consideration of the approximate 20 year Great Crime Decline in the U.S. starting in the mid-'90s, or so. Maybe even the increase in violent crime from in the three decades previous was an aberration as Steven Pinker, one of the researchers quoted here, avers in The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Maybe we are too close to that decline, even if it has appeared to be now in the past, to analyze it. The author says as much, certainly in raising the conflicting variables of more policing, police brutality, community patrols, "Broken Windows" policies, and even reduced lead in the environment. Taking a close look, even as far as Australia, the author does feel it is the engaged community that makes the difference. Policies that support and foster an engaged community and anything that reduces racism in unequal access to opportunity should help.
[I received an ARC of this book through Goodreads Giveaways.]
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