How should we address crime?

The 1988 presidential campaign between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis featured an infamous political ad that continues to resonate to this day. I’m talking about the “Willie Horton” ad, a 30-second ad recognized among the most successful, and racist, ads in modern political history.

At the time, prison furlough programs ― aimed at helping convicts reintegrate into society ― were common. The overwhelming majority of furloughed prisoners complied with the terms and experts at the time largely saw the programs as a success. Horton, an African-American man serving a life sentence, had been furloughed many times but on one occasion, committed a heinous violent crime after failing to return from a furlough. Republican strategists decided to use the case as a way to attack Dukakis as “weak on crime” and stoke fear and racial anxiety among white voters. Bush’s campaign manager, a proponent of the so-called “Southern Strategy” even quipped that voters would wonder if Horton was Dukakis’ running mate by the time they were finished.

Unfortunately, the strategy of playing on racist stereotypes and racial anxiety around issues of crime are still very present in our politics and public discourse. You’d be hard pressed to find any political candidate for the upcoming election not talking about crime and criminal justice.

And why not? Haven’t you heard? Crime is out of control and ever rising. But the reality is more complex than most would admit, and Americans’ perceptions of crime versus reality have been disconnected for years.

A 2021 Axios-Ipsos poll found that a majority (58%) of Americans believed crime was higher than in the 1990s, which is woefully inaccurate. And while there was an increase in some violent crime in 2020, FBI statistics show that violent crime decreased by 1% in 2021. But even those statistics are complicated because 40% of law enforcement agencies nationwide have yet to report their 2021 data to the FBI. Of course, we should all be concerned by crime and seek ways to prevent it, but we should also be vigilant of the ways in which crime is used by politicians to stoke fear and perpetuate racist stereotypes that have a long history in our society.

When it comes to preventing crime, the picture is also more complex than what is portrayed and outright lying is more common than honesty. For example, the constant refrain that the defunding of police is to blame for the recent rise in some violent crime. The police haven’t been defunded. Neither locally, where it appears St. Cloud is poised to add more officers in the proposed city budget, nor in Minneapolis, where despite a 2014 Department of Justice consent decree, a current DOJ investigation, multiple high-profile cases of MPD officers murdering civilians, Minneapolis police have larger budgets than before Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd.

Additional incarceration is also obviously not a realistic solution, after all, the U.S. is already the most incarcerated country in the world. And the same goes for more guns, where again, the U.S. population is an outlier for developed countries with more guns than people. There is little evidence more guns will solve our crime issues, though we do have significantly higher gun violence rates and regular mass shootings.

But how do we address crime? One successful strategy is in increasing access to Medicaid. A 2022 study demonstrated that the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) significantly reduced overall arrest rates ― especially drug arrests. Another successful strategy as demonstrated by a recent Brookings Institute study is to increase access to mental health and addiction treatment services. A significant number of those in jails and prisons have histories of mental illness and addiction. The Brookings study showed that “an increase in the number of treatment facilities causes a reduction in both violent and financially-motivated crime.” And lastly, early childhood education. Access to quality early childhood educations has been shown to reduce crime.

So my question is this: Are the politicians you’re hearing raise the crime issue also talking about expanding healthcare access? Are they providing proposals to increase mental health support? Are they voting for policies that will expand and fund early childhood education? If not, I think it is safe to question whether they are actually interested in solving these issues, or if they are following in the footsteps of the 1988 presidential campaign and creating another boogeyman to play into fear and prejudice.

Be vigilant. Willie Horton-style politics are alive and well today.

― Malik Stewart is a higher education professional and St. Cloud resident. He writes about local and national issues from a multicultural perspective.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: How should we address crime?