by Barry Krisberg

About the author: Barry Krisberg, president of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, is the author of Crime and Privilege and Juvenile Justice: Improving the Quality of Care.

Fear of crime is palpable. Americans now rate crime as the most important public policy issue. Responding to the citizenry, politicians are rushing headlong toward massive investments in more police and prisons....

Fear Affects Public Policy

Public policy is being fashioned on an anvil of fear. The public debate has been energized by extensive media coverage of terrible crimes (the killing of tourists in Florida, the kidnapping and murder of Polly Klaas in California, the killing of the father of basketball star Michael Jordan). Discussions of crime policy, whether in Washington, D.C., or in state capitals across the nation, have not been...