cover image Disorder and Decline: Crime and the Spiral of Decay in American Neighborhoods

Disorder and Decline: Crime and the Spiral of Decay in American Neighborhoods

Wesley G. Skogan. Free Press, $22.95 (218pp) ISBN 978-0-02-929151-1

Skogan, Northwestern University professor of political science and urban affairs, defines disorder as those elements of urban life which merely border on crime or constitute crimes so minor that police tend to disregard them: public drinking, vandalism, littering, verbal harassment of passersby, panhandling and prostitution. In addition to these are sundry physical disorders, such as abandoned housing, ill-kept buildings, broken streetlights and garbage-filled lots and alleys. Perhaps minor in themselves, such disorders, the author claims, can and do spur serious crimes. Skogan details efforts to counter or reduce disorder in Houston, Newark, Chicago and Minneapolis, particularly through the use of so-called community policing, which has met with some small success. His book, though of interest to public officials and police brass, is closer to a sociology textbook than a work for general readers. (Aug.)