Summary
"The analysis of the determinants of crime is always at the forefront of public debate. Effective crime-fighting strategies are widely debated with some commentators in policy circles and the popular press highlighting the role of law enforcement and punishment, and others emphasizing the role of socio-economic factors. Often one of the two views has been emphasized while neglecting the other. Those who would look for the so-called root cause of crime (the dominant academic view among criminologists at one time) argue that social circumstances lead to criminal behaviour and tend to dismiss policing as an effective crime fighting tool while others have pushed for harsher penalties for crime and neglected the socio-economic environment. In particular, the role of prisons as an effective crime fighting tool has been much debated, particularly in the UK, while the recent budget cuts for the police have led to worries of lowered detection rates leading to an increase in crime."--Page 1.