In 1994, the number of Americans in prison broke the one million barrier and, on its current trajectory, will double soon after the turn of the century. Probation and parole are sick jokes in most American cities. Yet in Los Angeles, for example, probation officers must handle as many as 1,000 cases at a time. Judges and prosecutors are demoralized as they juggle caseloads more than double the recommended maximums. In many jurisdictions, divorce and separation cases languish for years, as splitting parents and their children struggle to survive in a limbo of nasty uncertainty.
Children kill children and innocents are downed by random gunfire from warring drug gangs.
Elementary and high school students are required to pass through metal detectors in order to check for weapons, the deadly companions of the drug trade, and teachers are locked in classrooms for their own protection. City dwellers can no longer buy out of the mess. Individuals walking Wisconsin Avenue in Washington D.C.'s Georgetown, Madison Avenue in New York, Newbury Street in Boston and the Miracle Mile in Chicago are accosted by angry, aggressive panhandlers, many seeking money for their next fix. The ugly scrawls of graffiti on city buildings mark not only the arrival of spray paint, but also the widespread abuse of drugs and alcohol. Substance abuse is an equal opportunity killer, snaring addicts in every social and economic class.