Patrick Sharkey. Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence
| Author | Paige Vaughn |
| DOI | 10.1177/1462474520915824 |
| Published date | 01 December 2020 |
| Date | 01 December 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
grounds of protecting basic rights; however, it raises concerns that the solution
might turn into part of the problem.
ORCID iD
Hend Hanafy https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1044-2075
Hend Hanafy
University of Cambridge, UK; Cairo University, Egypt
Patrick Sharkey. Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City
Life, and the Next War on Violence, W.W. Norton & Company: New York,
NY, 2018; 244 pp. (including index): ISBN 978-0-393-60960-8, $26.95
(cloth); $16.95 (pbk)
In Uneasy Peace, Patrick Sharkey presents an in-depth explanation of the crime
decline that America has experienced since the 1990s. Sharkey brings in perspec-
tives and data from a wide variety of disciplines, including neuroscience, sociology,
demography, and economics, to demonstrate that explanations of violence cannot
– and should not – be separated from explanations of social phenomena such as
gentrification, education, and politics. Violence is complex, as are its causes and
effects. While declines in violence have been met with improved test scores, safer
schools, rising employment opportunities, upward economic mobility among the
nation’s poorest citizens, and increased life expectancy among poor men of color,
violence, police aggression, and rising inequality continue to plague the most seg-
regated and disadvantaged cities in America. Sharkey’s book offers concrete and
seemingly feasible policy suggestions aimed at promoting both peace and economic
equality. He argues that confronting violence and urban inequality will require
shifting away from punishment and abandonment and toward justice and
investment.
Sharkey’s main message is that efforts from public, private, and nonprofit
groups resulted in an immense decline in violence, one that has most benefited
the most disadvantaged populations in America. The strategies used to control
crime have also, however, brought about large costs. For instance, while Black
men today are less fearful of violence within their communities, they now fear an
outside source of violence: the police. Further, violence continues to threaten men,
women, and children in disadvantaged communities.
Sharkey offers a refreshing and balanced take on crime control that contrasts
those of the increasingly polarized left and right. Importantly, he recognizes that
criminal justice entities can simultaneously be part of the problem and the solution.
While criminal justice systems have contributed to crime decreases, problems asso-
ciated with rising surveillance, aggressive policing, mass incarceration, fear
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