NCJ Number
202830
Editor(s)
Mary T. Phillips Ph.D.
Date Published
August 2003
Length
8 pages
Annotation
In examining the New York City Police Department’s new policing strategy of the 1990's, entitled quality-of-life policing, this report presents findings from a study that compared data about non-felony arrests in New York City in 1989 and 1998.
Abstract
In the mid-1990's, the New York City Police Department initiated a strategy of aggressive enforcement against quality-of-life offenses. The resulting arrests were for offenses of misdemeanor or lesser severities. The New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA) undertook a study comparing data on non-felony arrests in 1989 and in 1998 in order to examine the nature and handling of these arrests and the impact of quality-of-life policing in the areas of volume and severity of arrests, crime types, defendant characteristics, and case outcomes. Substantial changes were found between the two time periods in the volume of cases, the composition of cases and defendants, and in criminal court case processing and outcomes. Several conclusions were drawn and included: (1) this innovation in policing has now become the norm, continuing to pursue the tactics of arrests for misdemeanor and lesser-severity offenses; (2) the tactics have swept into the criminal courts large numbers of older, chronic offenders and young people; (3) the arrest policies initiated in the mid-1990's have had a major impact on the criminal court system; (4) aggressive order-maintenance tactics harmed police-community relations in some neighborhoods; and (5) court responses gave rise to some dissatisfaction with the quality of justice emanating from the criminal courts and perceptions of continuous cycle of revolving-door justice.