A Citizen's View of the Impact of Crime

What is the impact of crime on the average individual in this country? What is the impact of the fear of crime on the quality of life in the United States? These questions are addressed in this article not from the point of view of an expert, or of an official in the criminal justice system, or of a victim of crime, but from that of an average person whose experience has included no direct encounter with crime of any kind. Those who have been victims of crime and those affected even indirectly by criminal behavior will react, naturally, with predictable concern; crime also has discernible effects on the attitudes and behavior of people generally, and this impact in turn has a corrosive effect on the quality of life in America.