| Summary: | Part of a special issue on why crime is decreasing. The writer discusses the law-enforcement techniques that have been most effective in combating crime. Those who engage in white-collar crime are nonviolent and are generally rational people who are motivated by profit. This type of crime is mostly prevalent where law-enforcement has not been effective, but when it is effective, others often conform their conduct to the law. Violent crime, however, is often committed by people who do not act so rationally or are not as well informed about the implications of their criminal conduct. Criminal organizations are harder to deal with because the leaders often isolate themselves from the daily running of the operation. The most effective law-enforcement technique in the case of criminal organizations is to target the leadership until a case can be built against the it, and then repeat this process until the organization ceases to be effective.
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