THE MAIL brings the new issue of Commentary, the cover of which announces: “Crime, Drugs, Welfare – and Other Good News.” An arresting title, that, and for a moment you wonder if it is meant sardonically. But no: Authors Peter Wehner and Yuval Levin, scholars at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, are playing it straight. On crime, drugs, welfare, and an array of other social problems, they bring tidings of comfort and joy.
more stories like thisStart with crime. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, both violent crime and property crime are at their lowest levels since 1973. Even lower in some places: New York City, it was reported a few days ago, is expected to have fewer than 500 homicides this year, the lowest number since the early 1960s. Contrast that with 1990, when New York recorded 2,245 homicides.
Teenage drug use has fallen by 23 percent since the 1990s, and by more than 50 percent for certain specific drugs, such as LSD and ecstasy.
Welfare? The US caseload has dropped a remarkable 60 percent since 1994 – as much as 90 percent in some states.
The sky isn’t falling…. hmmm, I don’t get the sense that there has been any real turnaround in the basic state of our country. A number of people have said the improvements in statistics on serious crime are mostly a function of how many less young people there are on the streets now. If you think about this, couldn’t this be a result of the deep moral disaster of liberal abortion? Drops in welfare cases may be a result of much more stringent standards for eligibility. And so on. I am not impressed with the argument that has been given here.