Gladwell on causes of crime reduction

Cool: Author and New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell has a new blog. Read what he has to say defending the "broken windows" theory of crime prevention from the authors of Freakonomics, who responded with this post on their own blog. Gladwell issued a congenial summary retort.

Don't really know where I stand on it - I'm intrigued but not convinced by the Freakonomics explanation, which is an unverifiable inference, but the feel-good "broken windows" theory - "proof" of which is in large part based on New York City's experience under Mayor Rudy Giuliani - does not explain large reductions in crime in other parts of the country that didn't implement those policies.

Interesting debate, though. I'll be checking back at Gladwell's blog regularly, in any event. Kathy's an avid New Yorker reader, while I liked both his books and actually belatedly reviewed The Tipping Point.