Word: hysteria
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...President contends that every dollar spent on drug education and treatment yields "a $7 investment" as crime and prison costs fall and economic productivity rises. Why then has he shifted away from what he knows he should do? "You can't appear soft on crime when crime hysteria is sweeping the country," explains an Administration official candidly. "Maybe the national temper will change, and maybe, if it does, we'll do it right later...
...sudden uproar is any commensurate increase in crime generally. The FBI figures for the first six months of 1993, the latest available, show violent crime down 3%. Crime overall was down 4%. But the national psyche doesn't make seasonal adjustments. Whatever the latest backlash owes to hype and hysteria, it is also a response to a festering problem. Most crime is down or leveling out, but only when compared with the high plateau it reached in the late '70s. It's hard to take comfort from the news that the murder rate, though lower than three years...
...that won't happen unless the President steps up and takes a position. We should impact the 6% or so who commit roughly 70% of the violent crime. We shouldn't be stupid." But that's where Clinton may be headed unless he joins Biden to stand against hysteria...
Ironically, after Guiseppe's death, the English public who had previously demanded punishment redirects its vengeful "mass hysteria." Now the English populace rallies for justice for the prisoners. Gerry goes from being the "Irish scum" prisoner to a celebrity, and Gareth Peirce's clever detective work eventually uncovers the truth...
Social scientists, however, advise against hysteria. "While this kind of incident is every parent's worst nightmare, like most nightmares it's not likely to happen," says Steven Nagler of the Yale Child Studies Center. Adds Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC): "There are going to be outrageous acts that even the most cautious of families will not be able to prevent." The specialists stress two things: there is little protection against kidnapper-murderers, but fortunately there are few of them. The vast majority (several hundred thousand a year) of child snatchings...