One of the few nice things about growing old is historical perspective. It’s one thing to read about history. It’s another to live through it.

I vividly remember the skyrocketing crime of the early 1990s and the huge debate about how to battle it.

It was the high-point of the domination of mass mainstream media. The verdict of the mass media was clear: Incarceration would not reduce crime. Only education and rehabilitation could lower crime rates.

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