William F. Smith: “last July the Nation was shocked when James Jordan, the father of basketball great Michael Jordan, was shot by hoodlums…”

“last July the Nation was shocked when James Jordan, the father of basketball great Michael Jordan, was shot by hoodlums after pulling his car over at a rest stop. What made the murder even more outrageous was the fact that the two have been charged with committing the murder should never had been on the streets in the first place. One had a record of fourteen burglary, forgery, and larceny charges, most of which had never come to trial. In fact, he was awaiting trial in August for bashing the skull of a 61-year-old convenience store clerk. The second had taken an axe to the head of a classmate 3 years earlier in a fight over a girl. That predators like these should roam our streets, free to terrorize law-abiding citizens, is a national tragedy. That they should be able to do so even after passing through the criminal justice system--which doesn't have the resources to prosecute them or the jails to hold them--is also a national disgrace. Since 1960 the population of the United States has risen about 40 percent. In that same period of time the rate of violent crime has shot up by 500 percent. We now have a higher crime rate than any other developed country in the world. These stark statistics illustrate numerically what every American who has ever been a victim probably felt upon hearing of Mr. Jordan's death. Violent crime in this country is simply out of control, and the old solutions aren't working.…”