POLITICS, PUBLIC-POLICY, AND STREET CRIME

For more than two decades, the United States has been at war with stre et crime, but we have precious little to show for it. Our obsession wi th punishment at the expense of, indeed to the exclusion of, preventio n is not just futile but criminogenic and divisive. This article expla ins what is problematic about our indiscriminately punitive response t o street crime and explores the political forces driving these self-de feating policies. What emerges is an understanding of the politics of street crime that is rooted less in the fear of crime than in a variet y of anxieties that transcend street crime but are affectively related to it. Criminals provide a convenient target for the anger that is wi dely felt, but is not quite appropriate to express, with respect to un welcome changes in race relations, employment opportunities, homelessn ess, and the like. To serve their own distinct but convergent purposes , the media, the public, and the politicians all contribute to the per petuation of our perverse approach to controlling street crime. While there are countervailing forces at work, they seem unlikely to prevail in the foreseeable future.