by Steven D. Levitt

About the author: Steven D. Levitt is a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows.

Police and prisons represent the first line of defense in the fight against crime. In 1992 there were over 700,000 police officers in the United States (almost 50 percent more than two decades earlier), and over a million Americans in jails or prisons. The annual price tag for police and prisons is approaching $100 billion per year. In spite of all this, violent crimes per capita have risen 80 percent over the last two decades [since 1975].

Police and Prisons Can Reduce Crime

Does that mean our spending on police and prisons is a waste of money? Some observers have jumped to that conclusion, even going so far as to propose a moratorium on new prison construction. Research I have been conducting on...