STILL A VIOLENT NATION

A new report on crime and poverty, assembled by the respected Milton S.
Eisenhower Foundation, makes sobering reading. While recognizing that
violence and crime have declined consistently over the last several years,
it argues that the booming economy is masking a failure to deal seriously
with their root causes.

Certainly the proof of how effective get-tough anti-crime policies have
been will come not in the good economic times when more people have jobs
and spending money, but in the lean times when they have neither. The
foundation, which evolved from a commission formed in 1968 to look into the
conditions that led to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, says there is
more violence today than 30 years ago. The facts bear that out. From 1969
to 1998, the number of incidents of violent crime in big cities rose from
860 per 100,000 population to 1,218.

But is the pessimistic tone of the report justified? The Clinton
administration, which obviously wants to claim credit for recent
improvements in the crime rate, says not. In particular, the administration
disputes the foundation's contention that the war on drugs hasn't been
effective.

The truth likely is neither as pessimistic as the report implies, nor as
positive as the administration would have us think.

Clearly the good economic times of the 1990s have had an impact on reducing
levels of crime. Jobs are the best crime-prevention tool yet discovered.

To that must be added the impact of the decline in the trade in crack
cocaine, which is widely recognized as having an impact on the declining
crime rate.

The bad news is that lawmakers, in response to their constituents'
reasonable fears of crime, have gone into hyperdrive. The concentration has
been on increasing jail time instead of looking at intervention programs.
More jails are being built, but rehabilitation seems to be low on the list
of priorities. In other words, the symptoms, not the causes, of crime are
being addressed.

It's not unreasonable to believe that the failure to do more than lock up
more people for longer periods of time will come back to haunt the streets
of Toledo and other cities.

The future also is clouded by the enduring prevalence of guns, the ongoing
disparities between the haves and the have-nots, and the unacceptable
levels of poverty in this country even as we enjoy unprecedented economic
growth. These all are ingredients for a return to alarming levels of crime
when, not if, the economy goes into a downturn. One of the key findings of
the report underscores the disparity between the positive spin coming from
lawmakers, and the feelings of ordinary Americans. While the White House
claims the foundation hasn't looked at the administration's strategy, 41
per cent of Americans are afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of
their home. That's up from 31 per cent three decades ago.

A country in which almost half its citizens are afraid to stroll in their
neighborhoods after dark is one that has not dealt with crime and violence.
If the report gets that message across, it will have done all of us a service.