The importance of deterrence
JOHN DILULIO’S ARTICLE raises so many interesting questions that one would like to devote an extended commentary to each of them. Take, for example, the matter of crime statistics. A central thesis of Dilulio’s article is that crime is not an American problem but an inner-city problem and specifically a black problem. Many of the statistics cited in his paper support this thesis, as, for example, the fact that in 19!)1 the violent crime arrest rate for black youths was five times higher than that for white youths.
