In 1868, Pember emigrated with his wife and two sons to New York, where he started a new career as a journalist.
 Working for several publications, including The New York Times and New York Tribune, he investigated urban crime and corruption with a journalistic style described by a contemporary as "attack[ing] the specialty of abuses like a terrier after rats, hesitating at no sort of a hole or vileness of vermin".
 In 1871 and 1872, Pember contributed to a lengthy series of articles in The New York Times on "Our State Institutions".
He followed this up in 1872 and 1873 with a series of The New York Times articles exploring "how the other half lives", for which the author assumed several disguises including beggar and circus performer.
These articles were collected and edited, with substantial additional material, into Pember's 1874 book The Mysteries and Miseries of the Great Metropolis.

In 1875, Pember appeared before a state legislative committee on crime in New York, testifying that in 1871 he had caught a New York police captain colluding with the criminals who operated so-called "panel houses" ("places for robbery, most ingeniously prepared and carried on under the guise of prostitution").
In 1868, Pember emigrated with his wife and two sons to New York, where he started a new career as a journalist.  Working for several publications, including The New York Times and New York Tribune, he investigated urban crime and corruption with a journalistic style described by a contemporary as "attack[ing] the specialty of abuses like a terrier after rats, hesitating at no sort of a hole or vileness of vermin".  In 1871 and 1872, Pember contributed to a lengthy series of articles in The New York Times on "Our State Institutions". He followed this up in 1872 and 1873 with a series of The New York Times articles exploring "how the other half lives", for which the author assumed several disguises including beggar and circus performer. These articles were collected and edited, with substantial additional material, into Pember's 1874 book The Mysteries and Miseries of the Great Metropolis.
In 1875, Pember appeared before a state legislative committee on crime in New York, testifying that in 1871 he had caught a New York police captain colluding with the criminals who operated so-called "panel houses" ("places for robbery, most ingeniously prepared and carried on under the guise of prostitution").
Arthur Pember