Crime, Crime Control, and the Costs of Law Enforcement - An Economic Perspective

• NCJ Number: 102300
• Author(s): M K Block
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 225 pages
• Grant Number(s): 81-NI-AX-0001
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: University of Arizona
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Analysis of crime rates, crime control levels, and law enforcement costs over the past 50 years shows that the major increases in crime and in crime control costs have occurred since 1960 and are related to the productivity of the law enforcement effort.

Abstract

The increasing youthfulness of the population does not account for the increase in crime. The decline in clearance rates appears to be an important factor. Changes in clearance rates may result from the changing costs of crime control. These real costs were stable for several decades and then began to climb in about 1960. Data from Los Angeles show that salary and benefit levels do not account for the cost patterns, however. A decline in productivity is most closely associated with the rise in costs. Arrests per employee have dropped dramatically in the last 20 years. The data do not permit conclusions regarding the effects of court decisions regarding police conduct, however. Correctional cost patterns have been similar to those for law enforcement. A central issue is now to explain why during the past decades the political process has aided criminals' interests at the expense of the taxpayers. Data tables, footnotes, and 318 references.