We usually associate violent crime and disorder with America’s impoverished inner cities — places like New Orleans, the south and west sides of Chicago, or long distressed suburbs like the Bronx. But today the centre of American crime is increasingly to be found on the West Coast, within some of the country’s wealthiest and most celebrated cities.
The explanation is new, too: instead of the traditional link between poverty and crime, this crime wave has more to do with policy. Virtually all the cities with the most notable crime outbreaks — San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles — are places with progressive prosecutors working to limit punishments for looters, organised thieves and the unruly, occasionally violent, homeless. The cities, with the exception of Los Angeles, are also among the whitest in the U.S., with a large population of educated people.
Read Full Article »