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Frank Zimring, professor of law and criminal justice at UC-Berkeley and the author of The City that Became Safe: New York's Lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control, studied New York City's drop in crime for lessons about policing and drug enforcement for other cities. 

Frank Zimring, professor of law and criminal justice at UC-Berkeley and visiting fellow at NYU, explains why crime rates have continued to drop during the recession, defying conventional wisdom.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments that could have a significant impact on California's 165,000 inmates. Early last year, a panel of three federal judges ruled that California needs to reduce its inmate population by 25 percent, because of the state's inadequate health care to its prisoners — reports show that one inmate dies every eight days from inadequate medical care.

Many theories have been offered up to explain the crime decline of the 1990s – from tougher policing to a decline in the crack cocaine epidemic. But why in the last few years has this decrease in violent crime continued in some cities but not in others? Frank Zimring, Professor ...