The new Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School has embarked on a daunting task: assessing the state of knowledge on crime and justice in the U.S. from 1975, projecting to 2025. Last week, the institute, with support from the Robina Foundation and National Institute of Justice, assembled eight leading scholars to discuss key issues in the field: guns, policing, rehabilitation, sentencing, race and crime, deterrence, drug policy, and youth violence.
Some highlights of what they said follow. Eventually, the institute will publish their papers. Michael Tonry of the University of Minnesota, who presided over the program, said a prime purpose was to understand trends over time. He presented a graph of crime data from the first modern period of rising crime rates in the U.S. in the 1960s, showing how three key categories--homicide, burglary and auto theft--had generally increased until the early 1990s, and now have receded to 1960s levels. The project seeks to examine what we have learned about the factors behinds crime trends--and draw implications for the next decade.
[more...]
No comments:
Post a Comment