Description
American presidents since the 1960s have taken on crime as an issue for their administration. Many have even used it as a campaign platform. Think 1988, George Bush and Willie Horton. This focus on crime has led Americans to label it a prime concern, even when crime rates were decreasing. So says, criminal justice professor Will Oliver (Radford University), author of The Law and Order Presidency. In 1994, Americans told Gallup pollsters that crime was the number one issue facing the country, even though crime rates were dropping. Oliver suggests that Bill Clinton at the time pushing a crime bill through Congress may have influenced public concern by his politicking. He says other chief executives have done the same.
