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Results for violent crime (u.s.)

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Author: Shapiro, Robert J.

Title: The Economic Benefits of Reducing Violent Crime: A Case Study of 8 American Cities

Summary: This report presents the findings and conclusions of a yearlong project to examine and analyze the costs of violent crimes in a sample of eight major American cities and estimate the savings and other benefits that would accompany significant reductions in those crimes. This analysis draws on data pinpointing the incidence and location of murders, rapes, assaults, and robberies. The data were provided by the police departments of Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Seattle. We examined a broad range of both direct and intangible costs associated with those violent crimes based on their incidence in each of the eight cities in 2010. The direct costs reported here are those borne by the residents and city governments of the eight cities, although additional costs are also borne by state and federal governments and the taxpayers who finance them. Finally, we calculated the benefits to those residents associated with substantial reductions in violent crime, including the impact on residential home values and a variety of savings to the city governments. In today’s tight fiscal and economic environment, the mayors and city councils of every city—along with state and the federal governments—are searching for ways to reduce their spending and expand their revenues. The common challenge is to achieve sustainable fiscal conditions without hobbling government’s ability to provide the vital goods and services that most Americans expect, all without burdening businesses and families with onerous new taxes. This analysis provides another way available to many American municipalities: Secure budget savings, higher revenues, and personal income and wealth gains by reducing violent crime rates. To calculate the extent of those savings and benefits, we analyze a broad range of direct costs associated with the violent crime in the eight cities sampled here. These direct costs start with local spending on policing, prosecuting, and incarcerating the perpetrators of those crimes. These costs also encompass out-of-pocket medical expenses borne by surviving victims of violent crime as well as the income those victims must forgo as a result of the crimes. These costs also include the lost incomes that would otherwise be earned by the perpetrators of violent crimes had they not been apprehended—as distasteful as it is to calculate the foregone income of rapists or armed robbers who are arrested, convicted, and incarcerated. These direct, annual costs range from $90 million per year in Seattle to around $200 million per year in Boston, Jacksonville, and Milwaukee, to more than $700 million in Philadelphia and nearly $1.1 billion for Chicago. This report also examines certain intangible costs associated with violent crime, including the pain and suffering of the surviving victims of violent crime and the costs to the families of murder victims. Across the eight cities examined here, the total annual costs of violent crimes, including these intangible costs as well as the more direct ones, range from more than $300 million per year in Seattle to more than $900 million in Boston, to some $3.7 billion per year in Philadelphia and $5.3 billion for Chicago.

Details: Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2012. 76p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 10, 2012 at: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/06/pdf/violent_crime.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/06/pdf/violent_crime.pdf

Shelf Number: 125533

Keywords:
Costs of Crime
Economic Analysis
Economics and Crime
Violence
Violent Crime (U.S.)