ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the implications of postwar trends in crime and institutional legitimacy for further research and social policy. It discusses the general observations about crime, institutions, and social change. It argues that the United States began the postwar period with low street crime rates, high levels of trust in political institutions, low levels of economic inequality, and strong family organization. In considering the relative effects of political, economic, and family institutions on crime, the most common argument has probably been that economic institutions determine the development of tine other two. The problem of increasing the legitimacy of political institutions in a society can be conceptualized more generally in terms of social capital. Connections between social institutions and crime are also relevant worldwide. Particularly interesting in other Western democracies is the potential effect on crime rates of recent reductions in social welfare spending.
