NEW YORK MURDER MYSTERY: The True Story Behind the Crime Crash of the 1990s. - Review - book review

Washington Monthly, Jan, 2001 by Stephanie Mencimer

And that's Karmen's point, too: New York is a unique place and trying to use it as a model applicable to anywhere else is frequently a foolish enterprise. In the end, he convincingly demonstrates that no single factor created the New York Miracle--not Bratton, not Maple, not even Giuliani. The 1990s were simply a time when a number of trends happened to merge all at once.

Karmen's answer seems right, though hardly satisfying--or even especially useful for the future. That's critical, because New York may be in for another tough ride: Even as the NYPD is basking in the glow of its success, Karmen notes, the murder rate is going up again.