When it became plausible for a potential predator to believe that crime does pay, or even that crime might pay, crime went up. By the late 1970s society began to toughen up. As the number of prisoners went up, the rate of violent crime continued to climb but was increasing at a decreasing rate. Clinton ran against the standard liberal idea of crime and punishment. It was central to his his stategy of showing himself as a moderate.
Policy is pedogogy.
That can look appealling to a teenager living in the inner city. Among blacks the rate has reached almost 70 percent. Often purposeful -and with terrible consequences. Failed social welfare policies have created a culture of dependency that is demoralizing for individuals, devestating for families and dangerous for society. So many of the things that nice people once wanted to happen in our schools have happened.