Barkan quoted in BDN article on decreased Maine crime rate
Steven Barkan, a sociology professor at the University of Maine, was quoted in a Bangor Daily News article about recently released statistics that show crime in Maine decreased for the fifth straight year in 2016. According to the Maine Department of Public Safety, crime dropped 8.7 percent from 2015 to 2016, but drug use continues to fuel much of the state’s criminal behavior. Barkan, author of “Criminology: A Sociological Understanding,” said crime has dropped steadily throughout the nation since the 1990s but the reasons why are unclear. “Criminologists don’t really know why,” he said. “I tell my students not to leave Maine because they are safe here.”