Minimizing Harm

by Rubin, Edward L.; Dilulio, John J.

• ISBN13: 9780813335360
• ISBN10: 0813335361
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-10-01
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

Research suggests that crime prevention is generally more effective than harsh punishment. But the public fears victimization and demands punishment for the perpetrators of its fears. Consequently, any policy that moves toward prevention, treatment, and alternative modes of punishment must simultaneously move toward reducing the level of victimization in a direct and readily comprehensible manner. The fifteen authors of this volume articulate a pragmatic crime policy for America which combines academic insights about crime prevention with the realities of contemporary politics. The studies collectively outline a coherent policy that centers on "minimizing harm," as opposed to retribution, eliminating crime, or solving the social problems that generate criminal behavior. Minimizing harm implies a compromise between the best current research and the concerns of citizens. The book consists of four principal studies focusing on public attitudes toward crime, prevention, alternative sanctions, and drug policy. Each study is accompanied by two commentaries.

Author Biography

Edward L. Rubin is professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	vii	(2)
Preface and Acknowledgments	ix
1 Introduction: Minimizing Harm as a Solution to the Crime Policy Conundrum	1	(34)
Edward L. Rubin
2 Public Attitudes Toward Crime: Is American Violence a Crime Problem?	35	(32)
Franklin E. Zimring
Gordon Hawkins
Comment: When and for Whom Is Violence a Crime Problem?	58	(5)
Albert J. Reiss Jr.
Comment: Crime, Violence, and Public Mythology	63	(4)
Robert Weisberg
3 Prevention: The Cost-Effectiveness of Early Intervention as a Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime	67	(48)
Peter W. Greenwood
Comment: Early Intervention: Promising Path to Cost-Effective Crime Control, or Primrose Path to Wasteful Social Spending?	90	(11)
Mark H. Moore
Comment: Can We Afford to Prevent Violence? Can We Afford Not To?	101	(14)
John B. Reid
J. Mark Eddy
4 Alternative Sanctions: Diverting Nonviolent Prisoners to Intermediate Sanctions: The Impact on Prison Admissions and Corrections Costs	115	(56)
Joan Petersilia
Comment: Net Repairing: Rethinking Incarceration and Intermediate Sanctions	150	(15)
John J. Dilulio Jr.
Comment: Intermediate Punishments	165	(6)
Norval Morris
5 Drug Policy: Drug Enforcement, Violent Crime, and the Minimization of Harm	171	(38)
Jerome Skolnick
Comment: The Ambiguities of Harm Reduction in Crime and Drug Policy	197	(6)
Mark A. R. Kleiman
Comment: Breaking the Impasse in American Drug Policy	203	(6)
Robert J. MacCoun
About the Editor and Contributors	209