Crime and the Election

It should by now be clear that the fear of crime is a political fact and not merely a code word for racism or backlash to the social turbulence of the 1960s.

Beginning with Goldwater in 1964, the hardliners have chosen and defined the issue. The Nixon administration claims some success in its “war on crime.” It has emphasized law enforcement, building of new prisons, expanded use of wire-tapping against organized crime, military forays that mainly drive up the price of hero...