Six more new prisons are planned over the next decade. By 1999, crime rates had fallen dramatically on both local and national levels. It put thousands of Oregonians behind bars, killed off the last of the feel-good liberal pols, and spawned crime sharks like state Rep. Kevin Mannix. And it scared voters into spending millions on corrections while slashing funds for other programs. But the ultimate legacy may be more psychological than political.
People lock their doors at night.
They see storefront graffiti and worry that gangs have invaded their neighborhood. More than 11,000 Portlanders are licensed to carry concealed weapons. In her 21 years on Portland's police force, she and other women officers forced the justice system to take child abuse seriously, and Clark wanted to shake up a bureau that had been roiled by scandal and was historically antagonistic toward the city's minority communities. Initially, the appointment was greeted with public acclaim. After all, she was the first female police chief in any major U.S. city and, as such, was profiled on national talk shows and named one of Ms. magazine's women of the year.