C H A P T E R T H I R T Y Urban Crime, Race, and the Criminal Justice System in the United States INTRODUCTION The impact of crime on general welfare is profound. Those most directly impacted are the victims of crime. By one estimate, the combination of direct monetary losses and the costs of pain and suffering among crime victims in the United States | A Companion to Urban Economics Edited by Richard J. Arnott Daniel P. McMillen Copyright 2006 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd CHAPTER THIRTY Urban Crime Race and the Criminal Justice System in the United States Steven Raphael and Melissa Sills Introduction The impact of crime on general welfare is profound. Those most directly impacted are the victims of crime. By one estimate the combination of direct monetary losses and the costs of pain and suffering among crime victims in the United States amounts to percent of GDP Freeman 1996 . Beyond these direct costs are substantial indirect costs associated with reducing the threat of crime. In 1999 federal state and local government criminal justice expenditures amounted to billion or percent of GDP Bureau of Justice Statistics 2003 . Many households pay significant premiums either in terms of housing prices or longer commutes to live in neighborhoods with lower probabilities of victimization. Many also purchase security devices and insurance to minimize the likelihood and costs of being criminally victimized. Moreover fear of crime often impacts the most mundane personal decisions such as whether to walk down a given street or through a particular neighborhood whether to let one s children play outside or whether to leave one s home after dark. In addition to the costs to actual and potential crime victims our public response to crime affects the lives of an increasingly growing population of male offenders. Over the past three decades the US has experienced unprecedented increases in the size of the incarcerated population. In 1977 the number of inmates 516 S. Raphael and M. Sills in federal and state prisons was approximately 300 000. By 2003 this figure had increased to million. Relative to the US population the incarceration rate per 100 000 residents increased during this period from 136 to 482. While all communities are affected by crime and the criminal justice system residents in large .
