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Crime Control in America: What Works?

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Contents vii

Chapter 4 PROACTIVE POLICING, DIRECTED PATROL,


AND OTHER ADVANCEMENTS 72
Proactive Arrests 73
Proactive Arrests for High-Risk Repeat Offenders 74
Proactive Arrests for Specific Offenses 74
TARGETING DRUG OFFENDERS 74
TARGETING DRUNK DRIVERS 75
Does It Work? 76
Directed Patrol 76
Classic Studies 76
Lawrence Sherman and the Hot Spots 78
DIRECTED PATROL OF DRUG HOT SPOTS 78
DIRECTED PATROL OF GUN VIOLENCE HOT SPOTS 79
Does It Work? 79
The Broken Windows Law Enforcement Approach 79
Fear, Disorder, and Crime 81
Quality-of-Life Policing 81
MICRO-LEVEL RESEARCH 81
MACRO-LEVEL RESEARCH 82
Does It Work? 82
Partnering 82
Police-Corrections Partnerships 83
WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SHOW? 84
Multijurisdictional Drug Task Forces 84
Military Partnerships and Militarization 85
THE POLICE–MILITARY CONNECTION 85
POLICE PARAMILITARY UNITS 86
FUSION CENTERS AND INTELLIGENCE-LED POLICING 87
Does It Work? 88
Technology and Less-Lethal Weapons 88
Safely Ending Pursuits 88
Crime Detection Devices 89
Less-Lethal Weapons 89
CONDUCTED ENERGY DEVICES 89
IMPACT MUNITIONS 90
PEPPER SPRAY 90
Does It Work? 92
COMPSTAT 92
Does It Work? 94
Summary 94 • Notes 95

Chapter 5 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN POLICING 99


Community Justice 100
Problem-Oriented Policing 101
viii Contents

Community Policing: Some History 102


Reasons for Community Policing 103
Community Policing: What Is It? 104
Community Policing: Is It Really Happening? 105
Structural Change 105
Attitudinal Change 106
The Definition Problem Rears Its Head 107
Macro- and Micro-Level Research 107
Research on Community Policing’s Effectiveness 108
Moving the Police into the Community 108
CITIZEN CONTACT PATROL 108
IMPROVING THE POLICE IMAGE 109
ORGANIZING NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH PROGRAMS 110
HOSTING COMMUNITY MEETINGS 110
DISSEMINATING CRIME CONTROL NEWSLETTERS 111
STOREFRONTS AND SUBSTATIONS 111
SPECIALIZED PATROLS 111
OPERATION IDENTIFICATION 112
POLICE-SPONSORED TELEVISION AND WEBSITES 112
POLICE IN SCHOOLS 113
Does It Work? 114
Integrated Community Policing 114
THE SEATTLE APPROACH 114
THE HARTFORD APPROACH 115
Does It Work? 116
Bringing the Community to the Police 116
CITIZEN PATROL 116
CITIZEN POLICE ACADEMIES 117
Does It Work? 117
Third-Party Policing 118
Beyond the Criminal Law 119
Some Examples of Third-Party Policing 119
Does It Work? 120
Summary 120 • Notes 121

Chapter 6 PROSECUTORS AND CRIME CONTROL 125


Prosecutors 126
Who Are the Prosecutors? 126
The Shift toward Strategic Prosecution 126
The Harder Side of Prosecution 128
No-Drop Prosecution Policies 128
Juvenile Waiver 129
Police–Prosecutor Partnerships 130
PARTNERING TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE 131
Contents ix

Federal–State Partnerships 131


RICHMOND, VIRGINIA’S PROJECT EXILE 131
TEXAS EXILE 132
Project Safe Neighborhoods 132
CROSS-DESIGNATION 135
Does It Work? 135
The Softer Side of Prosecution 135
Victim Assistance 135
Community Prosecution 137
THE STRUCTURE OF COMMUNITY PROSECUTION 138
NONTRADITIONAL RESTRAINING ORDERS 139
CODE ENFORCEMENT 139
NUISANCE ABATEMENT 139
FORFEITURE 139
OTHER CREATIVE APPROACHES 140
COMMUNITY PROSECUTION RESEARCH 140
Deferred Prosecution 140
Deferred Sentencing 141
Does It Work? 142
A Plea Bargaining Pandemic? 143
Arguments for and against Plea Bargaining 143
Attempts to Limit Plea Bargaining 145
Ad Hoc Plea Bargaining 146
Does It Work? 147
Summary 148 • Notes 148

PART THREE LEGISLATION, COURTS, AND CORRECTIONS

Chapter 7 CRIME CONTROL THROUGH LEGISLATION 151


Legislative Bans 152
Where There’s a Demand, There’s a Supply 152
Historical Lessons 153
GAMBLING AND PROSTITUTION 153
PROHIBITION 153
Bans and Their Enforcement 154
Gun Bans 154
BAN SPECIFIC GUNS AND GUN POSSESSION 155
Drug Bans 155
THE SCOPE OF AMERICA’S DRUG PROBLEM 155
DRUG BAN PROBLEMS 157
Does It Work? 160
Legislative Controls 160
Altering Gun Designs 160
Regulating Gun Transactions 161
x Contents

Denying Gun Ownership to Dangerous Persons 161


Buybacks 163
The Right-to-Carry Controversy 163
Does It Work? 164
Public Notification 164
Megan’s Law 164
LEGAL ISSUES 165
EFFECTS ON CRIME 166
More Recent Sex Offender Legislation 166
Does It Work? 167
Other Legislative Approaches 167
White-Collar Crime Laws 167
Does It Work? 169
Anti-Terrorism Laws 169
DETENTIONS 170
IMPROVED INTELLIGENCE GATHERING 170
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 170
Does It Work? 172
Summary 172 • Notes 172

Chapter 8 CRIME CONTROL IN THE COURTS AND BEYOND 176


Courts and Incapacitation 177
Pretrial Incapacitation 177
PREVENTIVE DETENTION 178
SETTING BAIL AT A HIGH LEVEL 179
Does It Work? 180
Diversion 180
Examples of Programmatic Diversion 181
Diversion Evaluations 181
Does It Work? 182
Shaming 182
A Brief History of Shaming 183
Examples of Shaming Penalties 184
PUBLIC EXPOSURE PENALTIES 184
DEBASEMENT PENALTIES 184
APOLOGY PENALTIES 185
REVERSE BURGLARY? 185
Criticisms of Shaming 185
Braithwaite’s Reintegrative Shaming 186
Shaming and Recidivism 186
Does It Work? 187
Restorative Justice 187
Examples of Restorative Justice 189
What the Research Shows 190
Does It Work? 191
Contents xi

Anti-Gang Injunctions 191


Does It Work? 192
Problem-Solving Courts 192
Drug Courts 194
POSSIBLE LIMITATIONS OF DRUG COURTS 195
THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE 195
Domestic Violence Courts 196
THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE 197
A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COURT IN OPERATION 197
THE EVIDENCE 198
Community Courts 198
THE MIDTOWN COMMUNITY COURT 198
THE RESEARCH 200
Teen Courts 200
Other Specialized Courts 201
HOMELESS COURTS 201
MENTAL HEALTH COURTS 202
REENTRY COURTS 202
Does It Work? 203
Summary 203 • Notes 203

Chapter 9 SENTENCING 208


Nonprison Sentences 209
Traditional Fines 209
Day Fines 210
Fees 210
Forfeiture 211
Does It Work? 212
Types of Prison Sentences 213
Prison Strategies without Regard to Sentence Length 213
Selective Incapacitation 213
Civil Commitment 215
More Prisoners, Less Crime? 216
Supermax Prisons 218
Does It Work? 219
Does Sentence Length Matter? 219
Thinking about Various Types of Offenders 219
Can Incarceration Cause Crime? 220
Sentence Length and Crime 220
Does It Work? 221
Determinate Sentencing 221
The Hydraulic Displacement of Discretion 221
Impact on Prison Populations 221
xii Contents

Impact on Crime 222


Does It Work? 222
Sentence Enhancements 222
Sentence Enhancements for Guns 222
MORE ON DETERRENCE 222
MORE ON INCAPACITATION 223
STATE-SPECIFIC RESEARCH 223
MULTISITE RESEARCH 223
Sentence Enhancements for Hate-Motivated Offenses 224
Does It Work? 224
Mandatory Sentencing 224
A Life of Their Own? 225
Mandatory Sentences for Drug Offenders 225
Mandatory Sentences for Drunk Driving 226
Mandatory Sentences for Persistent Offenders 226
Three-Strikes Legislation 227
THE SUPPORTERS 227
THE CRITICS 227
SOME LEGISLATIVE DETAILS 227
TO DETER OR NOT TO DETER 228
DETERRENCE AND INCAPACITATION 228
VARIATIONS IN ENFORCEMENT 228
THE RESEARCH 230
Mandatory Death Sentences? 231
Does It Work? 231
Capital Punishment 232
Our Stubborn Adherence to Capital Punishment 232
Does the Death Penalty Deter Crime? 233
Brutalization? 233
Does It Work? 233
Castration 234
Methods of Castration 234
European Origins 234
California’s Law 234
Effects on Recidivism 235
Does It Work? 235
Summary 235 • Notes 235

Chapter 10 PROBATION, PAROLE, AND INTERMEDIATE


SANCTIONS 242
The Organization and Administration of
Probation and Parole 244
Probation 244
Parole 245
Contents xiii

Common Probation and Parole Conditions 245


Probation and Parole Issues 246
To Serve or to Supervise 246
Caseload Concerns 248
PROBATION AND RECIDIVISM 248
PAROLE AND RECIDIVISM 249
CASELOADS AND CRIME 249
Offender Characteristics over Time 250
Are Parolees Equipped to Reenter Society? 251
Consequences to Society of Prisoner Reentry 251
Improving Probation and Parole 253
Reentry Initiatives 254
Does It Work? 255
Intermediate Sanctions 255
The Net Widening Problem 256
A Typology of Intermediate Sanctions 256
Community Restraints 256
INTENSIVE SUPERVISION PROBATION 256
HOME CONFINEMENT AND ELECTRONIC MONITORING 258
GPS MONITORING 259
Structure and Discipline 260
ADULT BOOT CAMPS 260
JUVENILE BOOT CAMPS 261
Hybrid Intermediate Sanctions 262
SHOCK PROBATION 262
HALFWAY HOUSES 262
DAY REPORTING CENTERS 262
FOSTER AND GROUP HOMES 263
SCARED STRAIGHT 263
Does It Work? 264
Summary 264 • Notes 265

Chapter 11 REHABILITATION, TREATMENT,


AND JOB TRAINING 271
A Movement toward the Left 272
Some Definitions 272
Criminals Are Not Created Equal 273
Risk 273
Needs 274
Responsivity 274
Rehabilitation 274
Targeting Cognitive Skills 274
MORALS TRAINING 275
REASONING TRAINING 276
xiv Contents

Anger Management 278


Improving Victim Awareness 279
Life Skills Training 280
Does It Work? 281
Treatment 281
Treating Drug Addicts 281
IN PRISON 282
OUT OF PRISON 284
DRUG TESTING AND TREATMENT 284
Treating Sex Offenders 284
IN PRISON 284
OUT OF PRISON 285
THE BIG PICTURE: THREE CHEERS FOR META-ANALYSIS 285
Does It Work? 285
Job Training 286
The Employment–Crime Connection 286
Job Training for Convicts 286
EDUCATION AS JOB TRAINING 287
VOCATIONAL TRAINING 287
CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES 288
WORK RELEASE 288
Job Training for the General Population 288
Housing Dispersal and Mobility Programs 289
Does It Work? 290
More Lessons from Meta-Analysis 290
Summary 291 • Notes 291

PART FOUR APPROACHES BEYOND THE CRIMINAL


JUSTICE SYSTEM

Chapter 12 INDIVIDUAL, FAMILY, AND HOUSEHOLD


CRIME CONTROL 298
Government May Still Be Involved 299
Individual Crime Control 300
Guns and Personal Defense 301
MEASURING GUN PREVALENCE 301
HOW OFTEN ARE GUNS USED IN SELF-DEFENSE? 301
AGGREGATE RESEARCH 302
ANECDOTAL ACCOUNTS 304
ARMED RESISTANCE AND CRIME COMPLETION 305
ARMED RESISTANCE AND VICTIM INJURY 305
DO CRIMINALS CARE? 305
COMPENSATING RISKS AND OFFSETTING BEHAVIOR 305
GUNS AND ACCIDENTAL DEATHS 307
COMPARING THE UNITED STATES TO OTHER NATIONS 307
A GUN IN EVERY HOME? 307
Contents xv

Risk-Avoidance Behaviors 308


CHARACTERISTICS OF VICTIMS 308
A SIMPLE EXPLANATION AND A COMPLEX SOLUTION 310
RISK-AVOIDANCE EFFECTIVENESS: FURTHER COMPLICATIONS 310
Risk-Management Behaviors 310
SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING 310
FORCEFUL RESISTANCE 311
NONFORCEFUL RESISTANCE 311
VIGILANTISM? THE MINUTEMAN PROJECT AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION 311
Does It Work? 312
Household and Family Crime Control 312
The Aim of Crime Control in Households
and Families 313
How Families Influence Delinquency and Youth
Victimization 313
Varieties of Crime Control in Households and Families 314
PARENT TRAINING AND EDUCATION 315
FAMILY PRESERVATION THERAPY 317
MULTISYSTEMIC THERAPY 318
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO FAMILIES 319
Does It Work? 320
Summary 320 • Notes 321
Chapter 13 CRIME CONTROL IN THE COMMUNITY
AND IN SCHOOLS 327
Community Crime Control 328
What Is Community? 328
The Social Ecology of Crime 329
POVERTY 329
MOBILITY AND CHANGE 329
RACIAL COMPOSITION 330
POPULATION DENSITY 330
MORE ON FAMILIES 330
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION AND COLLECTIVE EFFICACY 331
CONCENTRATED DISADVANTAGE 332
COMMUNITIES AND CRIME: A TWO-WAY RELATIONSHIP? 332
Financial Assistance to Communities 333
ENTERPRISE ZONES 333
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS 334
Other Methods of Community Crime Control 334
MORE ON COMMUNITIES 334
MOBILIZING RESIDENTS 335
ANTI-GANG INITIATIVES 335
YOUTH MENTORING 337
AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS 338
PUBLICITY CAMPAIGNS 340
Does It Work? 341
School-Based Crime Control 341
xvi Contents

Crime in Schools 341


The Role of Schools in Crime Control 342
The Role of the Government in School-Based
Crime Control 342
Targeting the School Environment 342
BUILDING ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY 343
NORMATIVE EDUCATION 344
MANAGING CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATION 344
SEPARATE CLASSROOMS FOR AT-RISK YOUTHS 345
Targeting Students 345
INSTRUCTIONAL INTERVENTIONS 345
DRUG ABUSE RESISTANCE EDUCATION 346
GANG RESISTANCE EDUCATION 347
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION 348
OTHER METHODS OF CRIME CONTROL IN SCHOOLS 348
Does It Work? 349
Summary 349 • Notes 349

Chapter 14 REDUCING CRIMINAL OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH


ENVIRONMENTAL MANIPULATION 357
Some Perspective 358
A Quick Return to Theory 359
Rational Offenders 359
Crime Pattern Theory 361
Territorial Functioning and Defensible Space 361
The Return of the Broken Windows Theory 362
How Environmental Manipulation Occurs 363
Access Control 363
Surveillance 364
Activity Support 364
Motivation Reinforcement 364
The Effectiveness of Environmental Manipulation 365
Residential Areas 365
RESIDENCES 365
AREAS SURROUNDING RESIDENCES 365
COMPREHENSIVE APPROACHES 367
Life Behind the Wall: Gated Communities 368
Does It Work? 370
Businesses 370
STORES 370
BANKS 371
BARS AND TAVERNS 372
Does It Work? 372
Contents xvii

Transportation 373
PUBLIC TRANSIT 373
AIRPORTS 374
Does It Work? 374
Other Places 375
PARKING GARAGES 375
OPEN SPACES 375
PARKING METERS AND PUBLIC PHONES 376
Does It Work? 377
Summary 377 • Notes 378

PART FIVE CONCLUSION

Chapter 15 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER AND EXPLAINING


CRIME TRENDS 383
A Quick Review 384
Effective Crime Control 384
Failures 385
Uncertainties 386
Three Important Themes 387
Beyond the Justice System 387
Early Intervention Is Key to Success 388
More Research Is Needed 388
Explaining Crime Trends 389
Liberal Explanations 391
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 392
DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS 393
CITIZEN ATTITUDES 393
FAMILY CONDITIONS 394
GUN CONTROL 394
Conservative Explanations 395
MORE AND BETTER POLICING 396
MORE PRISONERS 397
OTHER CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICIES 397
MORE CONCEALED WEAPONS PERMITS 398
MORE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT 398
Other Explanations 398
CULTURAL SHIFTS 398
WANING OF THE CRACK EPIDEMIC 399
LEGALIZATION OF ABORTION 399
Summary 400 • Notes 400

Appendix 403
Name Index 411
Subject Index 413
FOREWORD

AMERICA HAS LIVED THROUGH A GENERATION OF CRIME PREVENTION


Crime rates in the United States began to rise in the 1960s, and people started to be
concerned toward the end of that decade. By the 1970s, perhaps partly as a result of
President Richard M. Nixon’s “War on Crime,” a general public sentiment developed
that crime was a grave threat to our democracy and that “something needed to be done.”
Since then, a great deal has been done. For one thing, the criminal justice system
has grown inexorably for almost 40 years. In 1971, there were about 200,000 prisoners
and about 1 million people under authority of the corrections system. The penal system
has grown every year since that year, and today there are over 2 million people behind
bars and another 6 million under community supervision. This is somewhere in the
range of a 600 percent growth in penal control, a dynamic that has not been seen in any
other nation ever in history. This enormous growth of the penal system has been nearly
matched by an equivalent increase in law enforcement and the courts.
This growth represents a major shift in public expenditures and government pri-
orities. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, when many types of government jobs were in
decline or stagnant, criminal justice was a reliable growth industry. Jobs as corrections
officers, police officers, and correctional personnel, were plentiful. To match (or feed)
this steady increase in employment opportunities, higher education invented a new
field of study: criminal justice. In the mid-1960s, there were but a handful of crimi-
nal justice academic departments located in the nation’s universities and colleges, and
most of what was taught in the field of crime and justice amounted to little more than a
course here and there on criminology or the criminal justice system. By the end of the
century, there were several hundred colleges and community colleges offering majors
in criminal justice, perhaps a hundred MA-level programs, and more than three dozen
doctoral programs. People who wanted to prepare for a career that was a seller’s market
could do well to enter the field of criminal justice.
As government geared up in the generation of crime control, so did the private
sector. Crime prevention became an industry. There was also growth in the area of pri-
vate security equivalent to that taking place in the public sector, and today the private
security profession is far larger than the public police force. On the technology side, the
last third of the 20th century saw the invention of privately owned security as a new
idea. From burglary prevention systems in houses to auto theft devices, from neighbor-
hood watch programs in hard-hit locations to perimeter security systems in vulnerable
buildings, a great profit-making potential lay in finding ways to sell to private interests
(individuals and companies) their privately owned and often personal crime preven-
tion capacity. This trend has not abated, and now there are satellite systems of car-
theft prevention, entry-proof key systems, and the like—all designed to help people feel
more confident that their vulnerability to crime is being reduced.
The coalition of the private and public crime prevention apparatus has been a
natural consequence of growth in both spheres. Private prisons, faith-based treat-
ment programs, and auxiliary police services are but a few of the more prominent
examples.

xviii
Foreword xix

The dominance of the generation of crime control is so complete that, today, we


do not even notice its effects. We are entirely used to showing personal identification
when entering buildings, going through metal detectors when leaving public space and
entering private space, and allowing ourselves to be searched as a price of going into
certain vulnerable places, such as airports. It may surprise some of us to remember that
none of these infringements in passage existed 40 years ago. We are the generation of
crime prevention.

WHAT HAS THAT CRIME PREVENTION WROUGHT?


For the first third of that time, crime continued to rise, sometimes precipitously. Crime
hit a peak in the early 1980s then and fell for a few consecutive years until the middle of
the decade. Few people noticed, and when crime again began to rise, it was as though
the short respite in ever-increasing crime rates had never happened. Crime again
peaked in the early 1990s and then began a period of steady decline that has lasted
nearly 20 years.
The actual experience of crime has not been easily translated into public percep-
tion of crime. Even though crime rates are down nationally, most places approaching
the (dare we say) halcyon levels of the mid-1970s, people are not likely to think so.
Until recently, when terrorism intruded into the picture, crime remained one of the
top two or three concerns people expressed in almost all the public surveys tapping
the American sentiment. Maybe even partly as a consequence of the way crime domi-
nates public thought, it dominates entertainment as never before; on nightly television,
prime time is a panoply of murder and mayhem.
One of the products of a generation of crime prevention is the solidification of
a set of expectations we have for the state. We expect that the state is too lenient with
criminals, and we expect, equally, that the state will try to figure out how to get tougher.
We expect that the costs of crime prevention will be high, and we expect these costs to
increase, drawing ever more from other budgets, such as those for education or health.
We expect to see a crime story lead the six o’clock news.
So, for the generation of crime prevention, this has been a story of ever-increasing
resources devoted to the prevention of crime, an explosion of innovation (by the public
and private sector alike) in dealing with crime, and an oddly generalized sense that it
is for naught—that no matter what we are doing, crime is getting worse. The irony, of
course, is that for all the attention given to the former, we are wrong in our sense about
the latter. For the crime prevention generation—for whatever reason—crime is being
prevented now more than ever before.

HAS THE GENERATION OF CRIME PREVENTION PRODUCED


TODAY’S DROP IN CRIME?
It seems reasonable to think that the excessive interest in preventing crime has been
why there is a currently dropping rate of crime. As is true for almost all ideas about
crime and justice, this one is both partly right and partly wrong.
It is right in that the great and consuming interest in crime that has dominated
our popular culture has spawned a vast array of ways to deal with crime. From private
business to public action, crime prevention is a high priority and a main motivation.
xx Foreword

It is illogical in the extreme to think that a generation that could be thought of as the
crime prevention generation could have lived with this obsessive attention to crime and
yet have had no impact on it.
On the other hand, crime rates go up and down in relation to so many forces that
have nothing to do with the honed nature of our crime prevention apparatus. The size
of the at-risk age group of poor males, the economy, whether we are at war, drug mar-
kets, immigration, and popular culture all seem to have something to do with crime
and to have little capacity to be directly affected by narrow crime prevention strategies.
Surely any account of crime rates in the face of the crime prevention generation has to
take these forces into account as well.

THE TASK AT HAND


If we are to make sense of this great puzzle, we must begin with a careful assessment of
the tools of crime prevention that we have designed, developed, and perfected since we,
as a generation, turned our attention to this problem 35 years ago or so. Some say this
is emblematic of a new era in crime and justice—the Era of Evidence—a time when we
carefully craft our responses to crime in ways we know will reduce the threat of crime.
This is not a simple task. It requires three kinds of care.
First, we must classify the various strategies of crime prevention into some logical
categories so that we can make sense of them. There are, we know, so many strategies of
crime prevention that we cannot even begin to think about them without an organizing
framework.
Second, we must carefully sift the evidence about them. This is a dispassionate
responsibility, in which we review literally hundreds of studies of different method-
ologies offering different results and try to find the best way to make sense of their
complexities—find their themes and consistencies—so that we can draw some wisdom
from them.
Third, we must put into order the strengths and weaknesses of the exercise so that
something can be gained from it. We have to suggest lessons in some order of magni-
tude: “This kind of strategy will count for more than that” and so on. Only by taking a
position on what strategies matter more than others can we truly be helpful.
John Worrall has done this for us. In the book you are holding in your hands, you
have a rare gem. It is thorough and exacting in its coverage, and it is a reliable review of
the evidence. It is profound in its organizational and presentation logic. It is that best of
things in a book: authoritative.
Enjoy this book.
Todd R. Clear
PREFACE

The purpose of this book is to identify what works and what does not work to con-
trol crime in the United States. This is a difficult task—Herculean, as one reviewer
of the first edition put it—but still a necessary one. A few books (cited several times
throughout the chapters to come) have attempted to do what this book does, but
most of them have not been very accessible to nonexperts, particularly undergradu-
ate students in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, and policy studies. The
first reason I decided to write this book was therefore to reach a wider audience,
especially people with little background in the area, while keeping the content to a
reasonable length.
Other crime control books do not cover enough of what is done to control crime
in America. That is, the amount of material on crime control that has made its way into
textbooks and into the crime policy literature in general has been relatively modest.
This book will make it abundantly clear that a great deal is done in the United States
in response to crime, much of which has yet to be researched or laid out in the pages
of a textbook—until now. I believe that the field needs a more comprehensive look at
crime control in America, which was my second reason for writing this book. I’m sure
you will agree, after having read the book, that the range of alternatives for dealing with
crime is quite extensive.
Some competitive texts tend to take a strong ideological stance, almost to the
point at which a balanced review of the literature is not presented. My third reason
for writing this book, then, was to present a comprehensive view of crime control in
America while maintaining a neutral ideological stance. To be sure, even the driest of
introductory textbooks cannot be totally objective. Every book reflects a perspective;
this one reflects mine. But whether you agree or disagree with my perspective, you will
come to realize that it is not a predictable one. I lean in no particular ideological direc-
tion, I am not registered with any specific political party, and I have no specific agenda
to further by writing this book.
I have been teaching crime control courses at the university level for more than
15 years. They are the courses I most look forward to teaching. The subject of crime
control tends to liven up discussions in many a course, much more than other topics.
(When was the last time undergraduates expressed excitement over chi-square tests
or theoretical integration?) Even the most reserved students tend to chime in when
opinions are voiced as to the best method of targeting crime in America. Three-strikes
laws, the death penalty, and other approaches have brought some of my classes to the
brink of an all-out brawl. I hope that this book leads to much (constructive) discourse
in other university classes, as well.

PRESENTATION
There is no easy way to organize the study of crime control in the United States. Some
authors have organized it according to ideological perspectives. Others have presented
it in something of a linear fashion, in the order in which the criminal process plays out
(starting with police, then going on to courts, sentencing, corrections, and so forth). I
part with past approaches and present crime control from its point of origination. That

xxi
xxii Preface

is, most of the chapters in this book discuss crime control in terms of who does it and/
or where it comes from. But I also follow something of a linear progression by begin-
ning with police and then moving on to prosecution, courts, sentencing, and correc-
tions before getting into less traditional topics.
Importantly, much is done to control crime that is informal in nature, which
does not rely on involvement by the criminal justice system or other forms of govern-
ment intervention. For example, when a person purchases a firearm to protect himself
or herself, that person is engaging in informal crime control. Likewise, a person who
installs a home security system is engaging in informal crime control. Approaches
such as these have been largely overlooked in previous books on crime control, so a
significant effort has been made to include them here. Indeed, three chapters discuss
the effectiveness (and ineffectiveness) of what I call “approaches beyond the criminal
justice system.”

CRIME CONTROL APPROACHES


As will become clear in Chapter 1, the title of this book was chosen quite deliberately.
In fact, the book’s title is the first point at which my perspective comes out. I have
chosen the term crime “control,” not because I don’t believe in crime prevention, but
because most of what is done to deal with crime is not proactive. Additionally, I have
avoided the term crime control “policy” and elected instead to discuss “approaches”
to the crime problem. Doing so, makes it possible to discuss not just formal crime
control policies, but also some of the less formal methods governmental entities and
private parties take to make America a safer place. For those who prefer “prevention”
in lieu of “control. ” Even so, I think you will come to agree that most approaches to
the crime problem that have been taken in the United States amount to control rather
than prevention.

UNIQUE CONTENT
Another one of my motivations for writing this book was to include topics and
approaches that always seem to come up in my classes but have rarely been included
in the text I assigned for the course (for example, I have yet to find a book in our field
that discusses the effect of civil asset forfeiture on the drug problem). Yet another
impetus for this project was a desire on my part to educate readers about many of
the lesser-known and underexplored methods of crime control in America. When I
share these with my students, many of whom are outgoing seniors who have already
received the bulk of their criminal justice education, they often express surprise, if not
total shock.
By way of overview, some of the relatively unique content (in comparison to com-
petitive texts) consists of sections or chapters on residency requirements for cops, col-
lege degrees for cops, police–corrections partnerships, multijurisdictional drug task
forces, Compstat, citizen patrol, citizen police academies, no-drop prosecution poli-
cies, federal–state law enforcement partnerships, community prosecution, deferred
sentencing and prosecution, fines, fees, forfeiture, sentence enhancements, chemi-
cal castration of sex offenders, civil commitment, anti-gang injunctions, job training,
shaming, problem-solving courts, self-protective behaviors, and several others.
Preface xxiii

DOES IT WORK?
As Chapter 1 will discuss at great length, it is nearly impossible to claim that a par-
ticular form of crime control is effective or ineffective. Additional research, new ana-
lytic techniques, and the like can cast doubt on what has been considered gospel
truth. At the other extreme, a slew of studies confirming a single finding would tend
to suggest an effective approach, but time passes and things change, which makes
scientific knowledge very tenuous and uncertain, especially in the crime control con-
text. Yet in an effort to avoid beating the “we-just-don’t-know-for-sure” horse to a
bloody pulp, I have decided to include “Does It Work?” sections in all but the first
and last chapters. In these sections, I attempt to summarize the state of the literature
as it currently stands.

REVISIONS FOR THE THIRD EDITION


Several changes have been made to this, the third edition. Aside from updating the
book with the latest research, the following key changes have been made:
• Learning objectives have been added at the beginning of every chapter.
• Key term definitions are provided in the margins.
• The first and second edition’s dedicated juvenile justice chapter has been removed
and the content has been integrated throughout the book to improve flow and
organization.
• “Does It Work?” sections have been updated, consistently formatted, and set off
from the rest of the narrative for quick reference.
• Various recent approaches to the crime problem have been added (e.g., fusion
centers, juvenile waivers).

CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The book is divided into five sections. The first section lays a foundation for assessing
the evidence. Chapter 1 discusses what is meant by crime, crime control, and effective-
ness. It also discusses many of the issues associated with research in the social sciences.
For example, Chapter 1 points out how difficult experimental research is in our field,
and it highlights the tentative nature of scientific knowledge. Chapter 2 continues in this
vein by introducing various crime control perspectives that readers should be familiar
with. Chapter 2 also presents the goals of crime control, including deterrence, retribu-
tion, incapacitation, and rehabilitation—each of which informs, to varying degrees, the
approaches discussed throughout the book.
The second section consists of the law enforcement approach to the crime prob-
lem. Because most research on the law enforcement approach has been concerned with
police, three chapters are devoted to the effectiveness of police approaches. Chapter 3
discusses traditional policing (e.g., hiring more cops), then Chapters 4 and 5 discuss
more imaginative approaches, including directed patrol and community policing.
Chapter 6 discusses the effectiveness of prosecutorial approaches to the crime prob-
lem. This is another unique feature of this book; it does not appear that anyone has
attempted to publish a summary of prosecutorial approaches to the crime problem
with attention to their effectiveness.
xxiv Preface

Section Three consists of courts, corrections, and legislative approaches to the


crime problem. Chapter 7 discusses crime control through legislation, including legis-
lative bans, gun control, sex offender laws, and laws aimed at control of white-collar
crime and terrorism. Chapter 8 covers crime control in the courts and beyond. It looks
at the effectiveness of approaches ranging from pretrial incapacitation, diversion,
shaming to restorative justice, anti-gang injunctions, and problem-solving courts.
Chapter 9 focuses on sentencing policy, including the effectiveness of fines, for-
feiture, civil commitment, mandatory sentencing, sentence enhancements, capital
punishment, castration, and several other sentencing strategies. Chapter 10 focuses on
probation, parole, and intermediate sanctions. Examples of the latter include intensive
supervision probation, home confinement, electronic monitoring, boot camps, shock
probation, halfway houses, and day reporting centers. Finally, Chapter 11 examines the
effectiveness of rehabilitation, treatment, and job training.
Section Four moves the book’s focus away from the criminal justice system to
approaches taken by individuals, families, schools, and communities. Chapter 12 begins
with individual-level crime control, including buying a gun to protect oneself, risk avoid-
ance, and risk management behaviors. It then discusses the effectiveness of household
and family-based crime control. Chapter 13 covers both community and school-based
crime control. Examples of the former include financial assistance to communities, resi-
dent mobilization programs, and youth mentoring. School-based approaches include
targeting the school environment, such as through efforts to build administrative capac-
ity, and interventions aimed at students, such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education,
Gang Resistance Education, and behavior modification. Continuing with the focus on
crime control beyond the criminal justice system, Chapter 14 looks at efforts to reduce
criminal opportunities through environmental manipulation. In that chapter, we cover
efforts to discourage crime by altering the physical appearance of places.
Section Five consists of a single chapter, one that summarizes previous chapters
and then presents and critically reflects on several explanations that have been offered
for the crime decline that took place throughout the 1990s. Explanations are organized
into liberal, conservative, and miscellaneous categories. The message that this section
presents is that there were (and continue to be) many different forces at work that help
to explain national trends in crime.

APPENDIX
I assume that not everyone who picks up this book is intimately familiar with the crimi-
nal justice system in America. Accordingly, the Appendix presents an ultra-brief intro-
duction to the criminal justice system. It discusses sources of crime statistics, the actors
involved in the justice system (in terms of executive, legislative, and judicial functions),
the criminal process (pretrial, adjudication, and beyond conviction), and sanctions. It
is not intended to replace an introductory text, but I feel that it gets much important
information across.

INSTRUCTOR SUPPLEMENTS
MyTest and TestBank represent new standards in testing material. Whether you use a
basic test bank document or generate questions electronically through MyTest, every
question is linked to the text’s learning objective, page number, and level of difficulty.
Preface xxv

This allows for quick reference in the text and an easy way to check the difficulty level
and variety of your questions. MyTest can be accessed at www.PearsonMyTest.com.
PowerPoint Presentations Our presentations offer clear, straightforward outlines
and notes to use for class lectures or study materials. Photos, illustrations, charts, and
tables from the book are included in the presentations when applicable.
Other supplements are:
• Instructor’s Manual with Test Bank
• Test Item File for ingestion into an LMS, including Blackboard and WebCT.
To access supplementary materials online, instructors need to request an instruc-
tor access code. Go to www.pearsonhighered.com/irc, where you can register for an
instructor access code. Within 48 hours after registering, you will receive a confirming
email, including an instructor access code. Once you have received your code, go to the
site and log on for full instructions on downloading the materials you wish to use.

ALTERNATE VERSIONS
eBooks This text is also available in multiple eBook formats including Adobe Reader
and CourseSmart. CourseSmart is an exciting new choice for students looking to save
money. As an alternative to purchasing the printed textbook, students can purchase an
electronic version of the same content. With a CourseSmart eTextbook, students can
search the text, make notes online, print out reading assignments that incorporate lec-
ture notes, and bookmark important passages for later review. For more information,
or to purchase access to the CourseSmart eTextbook, visit www.coursesmart.com.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank researchers everywhere for their efforts to inform crime
control policy. This book is a literature review, and it would not have been possible
but for their efforts. Thanks also go to Gary Bauer, Megan Moffo, and Steve Robb at
Pearson, plus Nitin Agarwal at Aptara, Inc., for their help in producing this edition.
Also, the reviewers who provided valuable feedback on this edition deserve thanks.
They are: Tim Goddard, Florida International University; Krystal E. Noga-Styron,
Central Washington University; and Cody Stoddard, Central Washington University.
Finally, I must once again thank my family, especially my wife, Sabrina, for putting up
with me on yet another book project; the compulsion to write is difficult to shake.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John L. Worrall is Professor and Criminology Program Head


at The University of Texas at Dallas. He has published articles
and book chapters on a wide range of topics ranging from legal
issues in policing to crime measurement. He is also the author
of several other books, including Criminal Procedure: From First
Contact to Appeal (5th ed., Pearson, forthcoming), coauthor,
with Larry Siegel, of Introduction to Criminal Justice (15th ed.,
Cengage, forthcoming) and Essentials of Criminal Justice (9th
ed., Cengage, 2015), and co-editor of The Changing Role of the
American Prosecutor (SUNY, 2009). He currently serves as editor of the journal Police
Quarterly, as well.

xxvi
▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪
1
Identifying and Evaluating
Crime Control

Crime Control and Prevention You Can Prove Anything with Statistics
The Crime Problem in America Qualitative and Quantitative Research
Types of Crime Macro- and Micro-Level Crime Control
The Ever-Expanding Criminal Law Displacement and Diffusion
Incidence of Crime Measuring Displacement and Diffusion
Costs of Crime and Criminals The Tentative Nature of Scientific Knowledge
Is Fear of Crime Worse Than Crime Itself? The Measures Used
Approaches, Not Just Policies When New Data Become Available
Laws Alternative Settings: The Generalization
Official Policies, Written and Unwritten Problem
Unofficial Approaches Other Concerns
On the Importance of Definitions Funding and Political Priorities
Defining the Crime Problem Academic Crusaders and Bandwagon Science
Defining the Solution Evidence-Based Justice
Defining the Desired Outcome Effective Does Not Always Mean Best
Evaluating Success: An Impossible Task? A Preview of the Book
The Hard and Soft Sciences Guns and Drugs: The Real Attention Getters
The Elusive Criminal Justice Experiment Summary

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
◾ Distinguish between crime control and prevention.
◾ Discuss the dimensions of the crime problem in America.
◾ Explain various “approaches” to the crime problem.
◾ Summarize the importance of definitions in the crime control debate.
◾ Discuss what crime control evaluations are problematic.
◾ Define displacement and diffusion.
◾ Explain why scientific knowledge is tentative.
◾ Explain how resources and political ideologies guide crime control priorities.
◾ Summarize the concept of evidence-based justice.

1
2 Chapter 1 • Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control

The United States of America has a crime problem. In response to it, we spend bil-
lions of dollars annually on everything from prison construction, police salaries, and
courthouse operations to home security systems, gated communities, and self-defense
courses. We cannot turn on the evening news without being witnesses to the violence
and mayhem that result from criminal activity. We flock to movie theaters to watch
crime-fighter movies. We elect politicians who promise to get tough with criminals
and lock them up and throw away the key. We long for safe neighborhoods, free from
violence and victimization.
Whether we like it or not, all Americans are influenced by the crime problem.
Some of us make a living because of the crime problem. This book wouldn’t have been
written but for the presence of crime! Others of us have been victims of crime, rang-
ing from violent assaults to petty theft. Even a person who has not been a direct victim
of crime pays for the costs of crime. Car insurance premiums, for example, are deter-
mined partly by the incidence of fraudulent claims. The locks on our doors probably
wouldn’t be in place but for the threat of burglary.
It is often said that people who make their living because of the presence of crime
enjoy a secure future in the United States. People ranging from the powerful Chief
Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court all the way down to the police motor pool mechanic
enjoy at least a part of their livelihood because of criminals. There are, quite literally,
millions of Americans who make their living from some dimension of the crime prob-
lem. It would seem that we cannot live without it, but to say that we are content to let
the problem thrive is obviously not true. We do a great deal in response to this nation’s
crime problem—hence the reason for this book. It is about methods of dealing with the
crime problem.

CRIME CONTROL AND PREVENTION


This book is about crime control. At a glance, the term control connotes a reactive
approach to the crime problem. It suggests that crime is inevitable and that all we can
hope for is that it does not get worse. Some people prefer the term prevention because it
carries connotations of a proactive approach that seeks to stop crime before it can occur.
But many forms of crime prevention are also methods of crime control. For example,
three-strikes legislation is intended to both prevent and control crime. It is preventive
in the sense that the threat of a long prison term might deter would-be offenders. It is
also reactive because there would be no such thing as “three-strikers” if there were no
serious crimes.
The term prevention may therefore be hyperbole; police officers responding to
911 calls are not preventing crime, and prisons certainly are not built so that we don’t
have to use them. Accordingly, this book uses the term control loosely to refer to both
reactive and preventive methods of dealing with crime.

THE CRIME PROBLEM IN AMERICA


Although there is clearly a crime problem in the United States, people’s definitions of
the problem vary considerably across time and space. For one thing, there are many
types of crimes. One person might be concerned with the prospect of being murdered,
while another might perceive a more direct threat of being the victim of car theft.
The incidence of crime can also factor into someone’s definition of the problem. One
Chapter 1 • Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control 3

burglary might be too much to bear for one community, while another community
might be more tolerant of such activity.
Crime also varies from one place to another. South Central Los Angeles is clearly
different from, for instance, Beverly Hills. Washington, D.C., is clearly different from
Minot, North Dakota. Each city, county, or state has a crime problem that is its own.
Also, we all know that the crime problem fluctuates with time. The manner in which
it fluctuates, however, is difficult to understand. During the “dot-com” heyday of the
late 1990s, crime rates were at historic lows. Many were convinced that crime and the
health of the economy were positively correlated. But the economy took a significant
downturn starting around 2008 and crime also declined. According to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for example, the “2011 estimated violent crime total was
15.4 percent below the 2007 level and 15.5 percent below the 2002 level.”1
Next, the cost (or the lack thereof) of crime often factors into people’s perceptions
of whether crime is a problem. Some people say, “If it doesn’t affect me, why should I be
concerned about it?” Others feel that if one extra dollar of their hard-earned money is lost,
something needs to be done to address the root causes of crime. Finally, some people con-
fuse the crime problem with fear of crime. In many ways, fear of crime is worse than the
crime problem itself. The following sections consider each of these issues in more detail.

Types of Crime
It is easy to talk about crime in the abstract, but crime is a multifaceted concept. It is
“multifaceted” because there are many varieties of crime. Just look at your state’s penal
code, and this fact will become clear. Crime is a “concept” because it is something that
needs to be defined. In other words, most types of crimes are considered criminal acts
because they are defined as such by appropriate authorities. Certain crimes are almost
universally considered wrong in and of themselves, but most criminal acts are defined
as such by authorities, notably by legislators and the authors of the bills they champion.
It is important to be aware of the various types of criminal activities because one
cannot convincingly discuss solutions to the crime problem without reference to spe-
cific criminal acts; that is, there are no panaceas or complete solutions to some abstract
concept known as “crime.” Accordingly, we will discuss the importance of focusing on
specific criminal acts later in this chapter, but for now let us briefly discuss the more
common varieties of criminal behavior that we face every day. They can be placed
in four categories, even though there is some overlap between them: (1) violent crime,
(2) property crime, (3) white-collar and organized crime, and (4) public-order crimes.
Violent crime is what most captures our attention and inspires the greatest fear
in the minds of most Americans. There are many types of violent crimes, but the types
that have received the most attention historically are forcible rape, murder/homicide,
assault and battery, and robbery. The common thread running through these types of
crimes is that each involves a degree of physical force inflicted on one or more other
human beings. This book will pay more attention to crimes of homicide, assault, and
battery. The reason for this is that these crimes—and supposed solutions to them—have
been researched at great length. Comparatively little research has focused on responses
to crimes such as forcible rape. The same holds true for research on other types of
crimes, especially those of the white-collar variety.
Property crimes come in many varieties. However, most property crimes fall into
the categories of larceny/theft and burglary. Larceny/theft can include such offenses as
4 Chapter 1 • Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control

shoplifting, writing bad checks, credit card theft, auto theft, fraud, and embezzlement.
Depending on state law, burglary can come in several varieties. The most common
are residential burglaries and commercial burglaries. Some states define theft from (in
contrast to theft of) vehicles as a form of burglary. Most of the research on responses
to the crime problem has focused heavily on residential and commercial burglaries,
car theft, and various forms of larceny. A few studies reviewed throughout subsequent
chapters will attest to this.
White-collar crime is ill-defined but generally consists of crimes committed by
people during the course of their professional careers. One of the early definitions of
white-collar crime was any “crime committed by a person of respectability and high
social status in the course of his occupation.”2 More recently, white-collar crime has
come to be defined with reference to the specific types of activities it comprises, with-
out reference to precisely who commits it. That is, white-collar crime includes many
acts and can be committed not just by the rich, but also by middle-class Americans. It
can include tax evasion, credit card fraud, insurance fraud, solicitation of bribes, medi-
cal fraud, swindles, influence peddling, securities fraud, overbilling, and so forth.
Finally, public order crimes consist, not surprisingly, of crimes that offend the
social order. Often these are called vice crimes. They can include prostitution, pornog-
raphy, gambling, and substance abuse. Even homosexuality and certain paraphilias
(also known as fetishes) are considered by some people to offend the social order. The
most common types of crimes against the social order that receive attention throughout
the criminal justice system include drugs and prostitution. Indeed, the drug problem
is so ubiquitous that we will revisit it many times throughout the book. Public order
crimes are also important because many recent approaches to the crime problem in the
United States advocate targeting low-level crimes, such as street-level drug dealing and
prostitution, in an effort to deter more serious crime. This is commonly known as the
“broken windows theory,” and we will discuss it further in Chapter 4.3

The Ever-Expanding Criminal Law


Criminal law is ever-expanding. Not a federal or state legislative session goes by with-
out the addition of more acts deemed criminal to applicable penal codes. It would be
impossible to cover all such laws in this book. In the interest of parsimony, then, we will
focus primarily on traditional violent and property crimes. This is not to diminish the
importance of new criminal laws. It is difficult to dispute that, for instance, terrorism
ought to be targeted by the law. The problem is that such novel legal approaches have
yet to be subjected to much research.4 Furthermore, many of them target such a small
percentage of people that their overall crime control benefits are probably marginal.
We will thus focus on types of crime that are quite prevalent and that take a significant
financial toll on our society.
As criminal law continues to expand, the most effective solution to crime is at
hand. That solution is decriminalization. In other words, the most effective solution to
crime is to reduce the range of activities that are considered criminal. Obviously, doing
so is fraught with controversy and quite unrealistic, especially for serious crimes, but it
is only fair to point out that while more and more conduct is being defined as criminal,
a less criminal law would certainly equate with less crime. Most of us would not want to
live in a society with no criminal law, but many people have advocated decriminaliza-
tion. Decriminalization experiments have been explored as well, such as for medical
Chapter 1 • Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control 5

use of marijuana. We discuss these and similar approaches to the drug problem later in
the book.

Incidence of Crime
The incidence of crime can be defined in several ways. First, it is useful to distinguish
between the volume of crime, its geographic distribution, and its temporal distribution.
The volume is concerned with how much crime takes place. The geographic distribu-
tion of crime is concerned with where it takes place. Finally, the temporal distribution
of crime is concerned with patterns over time.
The incidence of crime also varies among categories of people. The most common
method of understanding the incidence of crime in this way is with reference to: (1) gender,
(2) age, (3) race, and (4) social status. That is, the incidence of crime tends to vary
between the sexes, between different racial categories, between different age groups,
and between different levels of social status (income, marital status, etc.).
Figure 1.1 shows violent victimization trends between 1993 and 2011, the most
recent year for which data were available at the time of this writing. Table 1.1 captures
the distribution of violent crime by sex, race/ethnicity, age, and marital status. It further
classifies crime into the categories of violent crime and serious violent crime. Table 1.2
captures the geographic distribution of crime, broken down by region and residential
location (urban, suburban, and rural).
Percent change

10

−10

−20

−30

−40

−50

Total violent crime


−60

−70
Serious violent crime
−80

−90
'93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06* '07 '08 '09 '10 '11
Year
FIGURE 1.1 Percent Change of Violent Victimization Since 1993
Source: Jennifer L. Truman, Criminal Victimization, 2011 (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 2012), bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv11.pdf (accessed March 19, 2013).
6 Chapter 1 • Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control

TABLE 1.1 Rate and Percent Change of Violent Victimization, 2002, 2010, and 2011
Violent Crime Serious Violent Crimea
b c
Rates Percent Change Ratesb Percent Changec
Demographic Characteristic
of Victim 2002 2010 2011 2002–2011 2010–2011 2002 2010 2011 2002–2011 2010–2011
Total 32.1 19.3 22.5 −30%† 17%† 10.0 6.6 7.2 −28%† 9%
Sex
Male 33.5 20.1 25.4 −24%† 27%† 10.4 6.4 7.7 −26%† 20%
† †
Female 30.7 18.5 19.8 −36 7 9.5 6.8 6.7 −30 −2
Race/Hispanic origind
Whitee 32.6 18.3 21.5 −34%† 18%† 8.6 5.8 6.5 −24%† 13%
e † †
Black 36.1 25.9 26.4 −27 2 17.8 10.4 10.8 −39 4
Hispanic 29.9 16.8 23.8 −20† 42† 12.3 6.7 7.2 −42† 7

American Indian/ 62.9 77.6 45.4 −28 −42 14.3! 47.3! 12.6! −12 −73†
Alaska Nativee
Asian/Native Hawaiian/other 11.7 10.3 11.2 −4 9 3.4! 2.3! 2.5! −25 12
Pacific Islandere
Two or more racese -- 52.6 64.6 -- 23 -- 17.7 26.2 -- 48
Age
12–17 62.7 28.1 37.7 −40%† 34%† 17.0 11.7 8.8 −48%† −25%
† † †
18–24 68.5 33.9 49.0 −28 45 24.7 17.0 16.3 −34 −4
† ‡
25–34 39.9 29.7 26.5 −34 −11 12.3 7.1 9.5 −22 34
35–49 26.7 18.2 21.9 −18† 21‡ 7.6 5.6 7.0 −8 24
50–64 14.6 12.7 13.0 −11 3 4.4 3.7 4.3 −4 15
65 or older 3.8 3.0 4.4 17 48 1.8 0.9 1.7 −9 91
Marital status
Never married 56.3 31.8 35.5 −37%† 11% 16.1 11.9 11.7 −27%† −2%
† † †
Married 16.0 7.8 11.0 −31 40 5.7 2.2 3.7 −34 70†
Widowed 7.1 6.7 3.8 −46‡ −43 4.4 3.0! 0.7! −85† −78†
Divorced 44.5 35.2 37.8 −15 7 10.9 11.2 9.2 −15 −18
Separated 76.0 60.2 72.9 −4 21 34.8 18.8 26.4 −24 40

Significant at 95%.

Significant at 90%.
! Interpret with caution. Estimate based on 10 or fewer sample cases, or coefficient of variation is greater than 50%.
- -Less than 0.5.
a
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
b
Per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.
c
Calculated based on unrounded estimates.
d
The collection of racial and ethnic categories changed in 2003 to allow respondents to choose more than one racial category.
e
Excludes persons of Hispanic or Latino origin.
Source: Jennifer L. Truman, Criminal Victimization, 2011 (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012), bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv11.pdf
(accessed March 19, 2013).
Chapter 1 • Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control 7

TABLE 1.2 Rate and Percent Change of Violent Victimization by Household Location, 2002, 2010, and 2011
Violent Crime Serious Violence Crimea
b c
Rates Percent Change Ratesb Percent Changec
Household Location 2002 2010 2011 2002–2011 2010–2011 2002 2010 2011 2002–2011 2010–2011
Total 32.1 19.3 22.5 −30%† 17%† 10.0 6.6 7.2 −28%† 9%
Region
Northeast 28.5 17.2 20.3 −29%† 18% 7.1 6.8 6.4 −9% −6%
† ‡ †
Midwest 38.8 22.0 26.3 −32 19 11.5 7.6 7.8 −32 3
† †
South 27.4 16.6 18.3 −33 10 10.8 5.4 6.5 −40 20
† ‡
West 35.6 22.4 27.1 −24 21 9.5 7.5 8.4 −12 12
Location of residence
Urban 41.0 24.2 27.4 −33%† 13% 15.2 9.5 9.7 −36%† 3%
† † †
Suburban 28.3 16.8 20.2 −29 20 7.8 5.5 5.7 −27 4
Rural 28.6 17.7 20.1 −30† 14 7.9 4.7 6.7 −15 42

Significant at 95%.

Significant at 90%.
a
Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault.
b
Per 1,000 persons age 12 or older.
c
Calculated based on unrounded estimates.
Source: Jennifer L. Truman, Criminal Victimization, 2011 (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012), bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv11.pdf
(accessed March 19, 2013).

The incidence of crime varies among individuals. The number of crimes an


individual commits within a given time frame is known as lambda. The concepts of
“career criminals” and “criminal careers” fit in here. Criminologists who favor study-
ing the incidence of crime with reference to individuals commonly invoke terms,
such as, onset, continuity, duration, frequency, escalation, desistance, and termination.
Unfortunately, there is little agreement among researchers when it comes to defin-
ing lambda. That is, it is practically impossible to know for sure how many crimes
are committed by a typical criminal within a specific time frame. Nevertheless, some
figures are available. For instance, criminal career researchers have estimated that the
annual rate of committing crime for active offenders ranges from 2 to 4 per year for
serious assaults and from 5 to 10 per year for robbery and property crimes.5 Larceny
and motor vehicle theft are committed, it appears, at twice the rate of robbery and
burglary.

Costs of Crime and Criminals


Crime is obviously a costly societal problem. But it is difficult to come up with accurate
estimates of the financial toll it takes on society. The best we can hope for are rough
estimates. These rough estimates have been arrived at in two different ways. First, some
researchers have sought to assign a monetary value to the number of crimes commit-
ted, resulting in estimates of the costs of crime in certain locations and over certain
time periods. Second, researchers have estimated the costs of crime committed by
individuals.
8 Chapter 1 • Identifying and Evaluating Crime Control

As to the costs of crime on an aggregate level, there are not as many estimates
available as one might expect. But of the studies that are available, it is clear that crime
is costly. The RAND Corporation recently took stock of the cost-of-crime literature
and determined an average cost for each incident of the following offenses:
• Homicide: $8,949,216
• Rape: $217,866
• Robbery: $67,277
• Serious assault: $87,238
• Burglary: $13,096
• Larceny: $2,139
• Motor vehicle theft: $9,079.6
Add white-collar crime to these figures, and the amounts become even more
shocking. Securities regulators estimate that securities and commodities fraud costs the
United States approximately $40 billion per year.7 Check fraud has been estimated to
cost $10 billion per year,8 and consumers appear to lose roughly $40 billion per year to
telemarketing fraud alone!9 Health care fraud costs in excess of $100 billion per year.10
The list goes on and on. One fact is clear: The aggregate cost of crime in America is
almost beyond belief.
If you are not convinced that the costs of crime are beyond belief, consider econo-
mist David Anderson’s estimates of the “net burden” of crime each year, which includes
not just the direct costs of crime but also fear of crime, costs of private security, oppor-
tunity costs, and several other factors.11 “Opportunity costs” refer to the loss of active
criminals’ and inmates’ potential productivity were they not criminal. Ready for the
numbers? He estimates that crime costs more than $1 trillion per year, in the United
States alone. This translates into $4,118 for each U.S. citizen. Imagine what you could
do each year with that kind of money!
Is Fear of Crime Worse Than Crime Itself?
“Fear, in some ways, is a worse problem than crime. While victims suffer the direct
consequences of crime when it happens, fear can affect the quality of life of victims and
nonvictims over an indefinite period of time.”12 Fear of crime can also lead to with-
drawal from the community and a breakdown in social relations among people.13 It can
even suppress investment, discourage new business, and it can contribute to neighbor-
hood deterioration and abandonment.14 At an individual level, excessive fear can lead
to anxiety and depression.15
People become fearful of crime for several reasons. They talk about personal vic-
timization experiences.16 The mass media heighten people’s fear through the graphic
portrayal of violence.17 People also watch many reality television shows (e.g., COPS),
leading them to believe that crime is more prevalent than it really is.18 Fear of crime can
also stem from the location in which a person lives; dangerous areas promote feelings
of discomfort and nervousness with respect to the possibility of victimization.19
In general, people fear becoming victims of violent crime much more than their
victimization likelihood of being victimized would suggest. Researchers call this the victimization
paradox: A high
paradox. The term refers to high levels of fear and correspondingly low rates of self-
level of fear with
a correspondingly reported victimization. Studies have shown, specifically, that women are more fearful
low likelihood of of crime than they should be,20 and so are the elderly.21 Recent research has shown that
victimization. fear levels remain high even when the crime rate drops.22
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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