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What Works in Policing?

The Relationship Between Drug Enforcement and Serious Crime

Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, mccabej{at}sacredheart.edu

This research reports the relationship between serious crime, drug arrests, and nuisance abatement seizures in New York between the years 1995 and 2001. Over the last decade, New York City experienced a dramatic decrease in crime. One of the more prominent explanations of this crime decrease is a variant of the "Broken Windows" theory posited by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in 1982. This research tests this theory in that it uses drug arrests and nuisance abatement closings as a proxy for "broken windows" and FBI Part I Index crimes as a measure of serious crime. The results of the analyses showed that the rate of marijuana arrest and the closing of drug locations through nuisance abatement statutes are inversely related to the crime rate, and that the rate of controlled substance arrest is directly related to crime rate.

Key Words: policing • drug enforcement • broken windows

Police Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 3, 289-314 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1098611107306863


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