Request Reprint Send us your request to reprint copyrighted material. But to the rest of us, it really should have very little meaning. This column will be the first of a series of three columns on the issue of crime and the way we feel and think about crime. I have done some analysis of the numbers, so hang with me. The second column will discuss my thoughts concerning why we as a society may have become so enamored of crime and worrying about it, an occurrence that did not happen overnight.
Crime is rare.
Yes, it really is. For example, in all of the cities in the United States with populations in excess of 100,000, which represents about 64.3 million people, there were 3,293 homicides in the first sixth months of 1999. To put it in relative terms, this means that six-tenths of a person per 10,000 people in these largest cities have become a victim of the crime we fear the most. This is because crime actually does occur, and the rarity of it doesn't console a person or a family member or friend of a person who has been an actual victim of a violent crime. I cannot criticize these irrational fears because I have my own, and they have to do with traveling by air.