What’s eating the NYPD? Ray Kelly has built the best police force in the country — now it is turning on him. William K. Black on applying James Q. Wilson's “broken windows” theory and policies to elite white-collar crime. A look at the ugly history and repressive role of Neighborhood Watch. Are crime reporters guilty of fear mongering and, if so, does that derail the development of good public policy? Theodore Dalrymple on how forgiveness is a kind of wild justice. What if prison is the disease, not the cure? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson on the US penal system; and who supports the US penal system? Crime and punishment: Bruce Western on how public safety doesn’t require more inmates. Are too many people in prison? Gary Becker on how putting lawbreakers behind bars is one way to cut crime, but it’s hardly the only way. Since the 19th century, attitudes to drugs have been in constant flux, owing as much to fashion as to science. The right to pursue pleasure gives us reason to legalize drugs, while addiction and self-harm fail to give us good reason to prohibit them — that is the essence of a strong moral argument against the war on drugs.
