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Declining Crime and Our National Research Agenda: A New Yorker's View

Inaugural Lecture
The Jack and Lewis Rudin Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program

Good Afternoon:

I thank you for the invitation to speak with you this afternoon and thank Dr. Gerald Lynch for arranging this impressive gathering. I am especially honored to be presenting the inaugural lecture of the Jack and Lewis Rudin Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program. The Rudin family is synonymous with civic commitment to the...

Lessons for the Criminal Justice System from Twenty Years of Policing Reform

Keynote Address I am delighted to be here, home again in New York City, and am particularly honored to be invited to address, "New Beginnings," the first conference of the New York Campaign for Effective Crime Policy.

I commend you for bringing together this wonderfully-broad based coalition -- including judges, legislators, prosecutors, educators, labor leaders, researchers, crime victim advocates, and criminal justice policy experts --...

Education in Law Enforcement: Beyond the College Degree

History of the Issue

The issue of education as it relates to the police is a long-standing one -- in fact, of longer standing than some might think. The most familiar accounting of the roots of the issue takes us back to the 1960's, to the various blue ribbon commissions established partly in response to the misconduct of some police officers during the urban riots...

Speech to the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City

"New Approaches to Juvenile Violence"

Thank you.

This is a special honor for me to appear before the Citizens Crime Commission, and to share the podium with Congressman Schumer. Throughout his tenure in the Congress, and particularly as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Congressman Schumer has been a staunch advocate for crime control policies that rise above ideological debates to appeal to the...

Declining Crime and Our National Research Agenda

Good morning:

I thank you for the invitation to speak with you this morning and thank Mark Kleiman for arranging this impressive gathering. I realize that my trips to the West Coast are all too infrequent and so took advantage of a trip even further west -- to Australia -- to spend a few hours with you and with Peter Greenwood and his colleagues at...

Speech at the 1997 Meeting of the International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program

National and Comparative Perspectives on Juvenile Violence

Dear Colleagues:

I am deeply honored by the invitation to address this international conference and wish to express my gratitude to the Executive Committee of ISPAC and its Chairman, Dr. Gerhard O.W. Mueller, and to its organizer, Prof. Alex Schmidt, for extending the invitation. The topic that this conference intends to address could not be more timely. In...

Speech to the New York University Alumni Association "Crime Statistics -- Good News or Bad News?"

Thank you.

I would like to talk to you about youth violence. Youth violence is one of those issues that generates overheated debate. Some commentators warn that we are facing a "bloodbath" as the next birth cohort enters the crime-prone years. Some describe a generation of remorseless "superpredators" unlike any young criminals we have seen before. On the other end of the spectrum, commentators of...

Creating Safe Schools: Opening the Schoolhouse Doors to Research and Partnerships

Keynote Address
Good morning:

I am truly honored that you invited me to be your keynote speaker this morning. The challenge embraced by this conference -- providing safety in our Nation's public schools -- ranks at the top of anyone's list of important challenges facing our country. Your success in meeting this challenge provides the foundation upon which our teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, coaches and...