"With this elegant sweep, the author has parted the curtain to reveal a gaseous windbag behind the bombast attending the miraculous claims of today's wizards. Bravo" --Tony Bouza,Law Enforcement News "Systematically debunks popularly accepted reasons for the crime crash by wedding closely analyzed statistical data with common sense and historical precedent. After reading this book, one thing becomes certain: today's New York isn't what it used to be." --Villager "Karmen has written a book that anyone interested in the New York City crime story should read. Nobody has written about the NYC drop in crime more comprehensively or more even-handedly." --Todd R. Clear, president of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Andrew Karmen tracks a quarter century of murder in the city Americans have most commonly associated with rampant street crime. Providing both a local and a national context for New York's plunging crime rate, Karmen tests and debunks the many self-serving explanations for the decline.

While crediting a more effective police force for its efforts, Karmen also emphasizes the decline of the crack epidemic, skyrocketing incarceration rates, favorable demographic trends, a healthy economy, an influx of hard working and law abiding immigrants, a rise in college enrollment, and an unexpected outbreak of improved behavior by young men growing up in poverty stricken neighborhoods.New York Murder Mysteryis the most authoritative study to date of why crime rates rise and fall.