Is it safer to do a regular approach than a short approach?
The safest approach to a normal landing is a stabilized approach, so it's going to depend a lot on you, your aircraft, and the day's conditions. If you're operating in a confined area, then that changes things a lot, and I'm not going to address that. 

It also depends on your definition of a normal pattern and approach. The FAA recommends you fly your downwind around ½ mile to 1 mile from the runway centerline, which should keep you fairly close to the airport anyway, and you should be turning base at least ¼ mile away from the runway threshold.

That said, a normal approach is going to be much safer. As you point out in your question, a short approach often requires extreme descent rates or slips (or both), and results in a much shorter final; neither of those situations improve safety. Approaching with a high descent rate just so that you can reduce it if necessary doesn't strike me as a particularly good choice for normal operations, either.