Table Of Contentsocial science wilson “No one thought more insightfully about crime than James Q. Wilson.”
As crime rates inexorably rose during the tumultuous years of the 1970s, disputes over how to —PoliCe CoMMissioNer rayMoNd W. Kelly
handle the violence sweeping the nation quickly escalated. James Q. Wilson redefined the
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public debate by offering a brilliant and provocative new argument—that criminal activity
is largely rational and shaped by the rewards and penalties it offers—and forever changed the way
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americans think about crime. Now with a new foreword by the prominent scholar and best-selling
author Charles Murray, this revised edition of Thinking About Crime introduces a new generation of i ALLISON
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readers to the theories and ideas that have been so influential in shaping the american justice system. jAme s q. wilson
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“[Wilson] was that rare academic whose ideas could be put into action and improve the quality
of life…. The greatest evidence of his success surrounds us—a resurgent city and thousands of i
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New yorkers who are alive today because of his radical solution to a tidal wave of crime.” NC
—rudolph giuliAni g
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“The most accomplished social scientist of the last half century…. elegant in bearing, voracious for
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learning, eloquent in advocacy and amiable in disputation, Wilson was a prophet honored in his
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own country.” —george F. will
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“in his influential book Thinking About Crime, as he so often did when thinking, writing or speaking SW
about public policies, James Wilson was able to present his ideas and observations in such a way that u
they provoked and stimulated thought, debate, and action in new directions. He certainly did that for
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me throughout my career and this book was just one example.”
—bill brAtton, former Chief of the laPd and Police Commissioner
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for the New york City and Boston Police department
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“Thinking About Crime set the national crime-control agenda for a generation. Conditions have changed DL
since: We have about five times as many people behind bars now as 1975. The debate has changed too. But i
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forty years have not deprived Wilson’s thinking of its fine critical edge, or his ideas of their centrality.”
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—mArk kleimAn, Professor of Public Policy, UCla luskin school of Public affairs
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jAmes q. wilson 6.125” x 9.25”
(1931–2012) taught at Harvard, UCla, and Pepperdine.
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author of eighteen books, including the standard college textbook on its topic, American Government,
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Wilson was a member of national commissions on criminal justice, drug abuse prevention, and
r e v i s e d e d i t i o n
national security. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.
BASIC
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Thinking
About
Crime
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THINKING
ABOUT
C R I M E
R E V I S E D E D I T I O N
JAMES Q. WILSON
With a New Foreword by Charles Murray
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
New York
9780465048830-text_wilson 3/4/13 1:28 PM Page iv
Copyright © 1975, 1983, 2013 by James Q. Wilson
Foreword copyright © 2013 by Charles Murray
Published in 2013 by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic
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Designed by Pauline Brown
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wilson, James Q.
Thinking about crime / James Q. Wilson ; with a new foreword by Charles
Murray. — Revised edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-465-04883-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-465-04884-7
(e-book) 1. Crime—United States. 2. Criminal justice, Administration
of—United States. I. Title.
HV6789.W53 2013
364.973—dc23
2013003494
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To
Pete and Pat
Who Always Understood
and to
Dick and Mark
for Their Friendship and Wisdom
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword by Charles Murray xiii
Introduction xxi
PART I CRIME
CHAPTER1 Crime Amidst Plenty: The Paradox of the Sixties 3
CHAPTER2 Crime and Community 16
CHAPTER 3 Thinking About Crime 30
PART II POLICING
CHAPTER 4 The Police and Crime 49
CHAPTER 5 Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety 63
CHAPTER 6 The Police and Community Relations 78
PART III CRIMINAL JUSTICE
CHAPTER 7 Penalties and Opportunities 105
CHAPTER 8 Incapacitation 133
CHAPTER 9 Rehabilitation 150
CHAPTER 10 The Death Penalty 166
CHAPTER 11 Heroin 183
PART IV CRIME AND THE AMERICAN REGIME
CHAPTER 12 Crime and American Culture 211
CHAPTER 13 Crime and Public Policy 238
Appendix: A Note on Gun Control 249
Notes 255
Index 271
VII
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Acknowledgments
FOUR OF THE CHAPTERSof this book were written, in their original form,
with the aid of co-authors. I wish to thank them for their assistance and for their
permission to reprint, slightly amended, these materials. They are Dr. Robert L.
DuPont, M.D., with whom I wrote the original version of chapter 1, and Professor
Mark H. Moore and Mr. I. David Wheat, Jr., with whom I wrote what now ap-
pears as chapter 11. Professor Moore was also the co-author of what is now “A
Note on Gun Control.” Dr. George L. Kelling, Jr., joined me in writing what is
now chapter 5.
I am also indebted to colleagues who read and commented on early versions
of some of the chapters added to this edition. They include: Barbara Boland of
INSLAW and Jacqueline Cohen of Carnegie-Mellon University, who commented
on chapter 8; Michael Block of the University of Arizona, who commented on
chapter 7; and Morton Keller of Brandeis University, Roger Lane of Haverford
College, Eric Monkkonen of UCLA, and Michael Sandel of Harvard who com-
mented on chapter 12.
Various publishers have kindly allowed me to reprint, with alterations, material
that first appeared under their auspices:
Chapter 1: “The Sick Sixties,” Atlantic Monthly, October 1973, pp. 91–98.
Copyright © 1973, by the Atlantic Monthly Company, Boston, Mass.
Reprinted by permission.
Chapter 2: “The Urban Unease: Community vs. City,” The Public Interest,
no. 12 (Summer 1968): 25–39. Copyright © 1968 by National Affairs,
Inc.; copyright © 1974 by James Q. Wilson.
Chapter 3: “Crime and the Criminologists,” Commentary, July 1974, pp.
47–53. Copyright © 1974 by James Q. Wilson.
Chapter 4: “Do the Police Prevent Crime?” New York Times Sunday Mag-
azine, 6 October, 1974, pp. 18 ff. Copyright © 1974 by The New York
Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
Chapter 5: “Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety,”
Atlantic Monthly, March 1982, pp. 29–38. Copyright © 1982 by the
Atlantic Monthly Company, Boston, Mass. Reprinted by permission.
IX
