crime rates during the 1990’s and offers instead
reasons such as less reporting of offenses to po-
lice, a natural cycle of crime, and increased reli-
gious and family influences, among other factors.
Gainsborough, Jenni, and Marc Mauer.Diminishing
Returns: Crime and Incarceration in the 1990’s.Wash-
ington, D.C.: Sentencing Project, 2000. Presents a
critical argument regarding the concept that in-
creased incarceration during the 1990’s was re-
sponsible for the reduction in crime rates in the
United States.
Levitt, Steven. “Understanding Why Crime Fell in
the 1990’s: Four Factors That Explain the Decline
and Six That Do Not.”Journal of Economic Perspec-
tives18, no. 1 (Winter, 2004): 163-190. Looks at
the decline in crime in the United States during
the 1990’s, identifying the areas and degrees of
decline. Takes a critical look at the reasons given
for the drop in the crime rate.
Messner, Steven, et al. “Policing, Drugs, and the Ho-
micide Decline in New York City in the 1990’s.”
Criminology45, no. 2 (May, 2007): 385-414. As-
sesses changes in policing and the drug trade and
the possible effect of these changes on the homi-
cide rates in New York City during the 1990’s.
Ouimet, Marc. “Crime in Canada and in the United
States: A Comparative Analysis.”Canadian Review
of Sociology and Anthropology36, no. 3 (August,
1999): 389-408. Notes that for three decades lead-
ing up to the 1990’s, the crime rates in the United
States and in Canada were very similar, and ar-
gues that the apparent difference between the
two countries is explained by high crime rates in
several large cities in the United States that skew
the statistics used in analyses.
___. “Explaining the American and Canadian
Crime ‘Drop’ in the 1990’s.”Canadian Journal of
Criminology44, no. 1 (January, 2002): 38-51. Ar-
gues that the decline of crime rates in both Can-
ada and the United States was influenced by in-
creased employment, changes in demographics,
and changes in societal values.
Sprott, Jane B., and Carla Cesaroni. “Similarities in
Homicide Trends in the States and Canada:
Guns, Crack, or Demographics.”Homicide Studies
6, no. 4 (2002): 348-359. Ties the decrease in ho-
micide rates in both Canada and the United
States to the changes in demographics in both
countries.
Zimring, Franklin E. “Seven Lessons from the
1990’s.” InThe Great American Crime Decline.New
York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Addresses
similarities and differences of potential causes of
the decline in crime rates in the United States and
in Canada. Argues that the reduction in crime
rates was not the result of any single factor. Notes
that the sole factor shared by both countries was
the decline in the size of the youth population
and asserts that this factor may play a larger role
than many criminologists are willing to admit.
Gerald P. FisherSee also Carjacking; Clinton, Bill; Drive-by shoot-
ings; Gun control; Hate crimes; Immigration Act of
1990; Louima torture case; North Hollywood shoot-
out; Oklahoma City bombing; Olympic Park bomb-
ing; Police brutality; Ruby Ridge shoot-out; School
violence; Shepard, Matthew; Terrorism; Three strikes
laws. Crown Heights riot
The Event An anti-Semitic riot
Date August 19-22, 1991
Place Brooklyn, New York
This was the first large-scale anti-Semitic riot in the United
States.
On a hot August night in 1991, seven-year-old Gavin
Cato was riding his bicycle on the sidewalks of Crown
Heights, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. A few miles
away, graduate student Yankel Rosenbaum was con-
ducting research for a doctorate. The events of the
next few hours would link the two, bringing to the
surface racial animosity in a quiet area of the city.
The event would also reveal police ineffectiveness
during a critical period. Finally, the event crippled
the political career of New York’s first black mayor,
David Dinkins.
In 1991, Crown Heights was dominated by three
cultural groups: Most residents were from the West
Indies, slightly fewer were African Americans, and
about 10 percent were Jews of the Hasidic Lubavitch
sect, headquartered in Brooklyn, which emphasizes
community self-help and commitment to religious
principles and whose members have a distinctive
personal appearance. Relations between the three
groups were tense: All were competing for limited
housing and services during a time of economicThe Nineties in America Crown Heights riot 231