In addition to policing strategies, improved and increased discipline was also likely to be a major factor in the reduction of violent crime. Increasing the severity of punishment, would likely have caused deterrence. Deterrence theory posits that crimes can be prevented when the costs of committing the crime are perceived by the offender to outweigh the benefits of committing the crime. For example, New York City in 1990, added over 7,000 new uniformed cops, in addition to making police efforts much more aggressive and focused on high-crime settings. …show more content…
There have been links made between the persistent stop, frisk and arrests and the reduction in the number of young people carrying guns, resulting in fewer homicides. One theory as to why violent crime decreased is that drug use also decreased. This is an easy assumption to make, with the ‘War on Drugs’ being announced in the mid 80s, and the drop in crime beginning early 90s. However, this has been disproved due to drug use not actually falling very much. Drug-related killings in New York City have dropped 90% from peak rates, whereas drug use is reported relatively