A national and a local response to a local problem: How the public, media, government, and local organizations reacted to the crime wave of the late 1980s and early 1990s

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States of America experienced a crime wave that peaked in 1991 (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2005c). However, not all Americans felt its impact. Only the few who lived in large urban centers experienced a disproportionate number of the homicides that drove the crime wave (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2006f). In other words, the crime wave was largely limited to large cities, as homicide levels in small cities, suburban areas and rural districts remained steady (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2006f). More specifically that literature showed that youths aged 14 to 24 were disproportionately involved (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2006a), particularly black males (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2006e). The data indicate, then, that the crime wave largely involved young black males killing, with handguns, other young black males.; With the nature of the crime wave in mind, the analytical goal of the dissertation was to examine how the public, print media, federal government, and local youth violence prevention programs reacted to the crime wave of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In other words, this dissertation examined the relationships between the public's fear of and concern for crime, newspapers reporting on crime and President Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. Furthermore, the dissertation examined how the relationship between the public's fear of and concern for crime, the print media's reporting of crime and President Bill Clinton's campaign for president influenced the federal government's response to the crime wave. Moreover, the dissertation examined the relationship between the federal government's reaction to the crime wave and the development of local youth violence prevention programs. Furthermore, the dissertation documented the attributes of the local youth violence prevention programs that were a reaction to the crime wave. Additionally, the dissertation analyzed the attributes of the local youth violence prevention programs that were a reaction to the crime wave to determine if the federal response to the crime wave changed the attributes of local youth violence prevention programs.; The initial analysis determined that there was not a significant relationship between, the public's fear and concern of crime, media reports on murder and violence, media reports on juvenile violence, and media reports on violence prevention programs and the overall national homicide rate. However, a more in depth analysis found that 1994 was the year that that public's fear and concern of crime peaked. 1994 also featured a significant number media stories on youth violence prevention programs. Thus, the analysis concluded that public's peak levels of fear and concern for crime in 1994 and the statically significant number of media stories on youth violence prevention programs in 1994 was a reaction to youth homicide, which peaked nationally in 1993. As a reaction to record high levels of youth violence, and public fear and concern for crime, the Clinton administration and Congress feverously worked together to pass the 1994 Federal Crime Bill. As a response to the federal government's implementation of the 1994 Federal Crime Bill, local communities reacted to the crime wave of the late 1980s and early 1990s with local youth violence prevention programs.; When analyzing the attributes of the local youth violence prevention programs that were a response to the 1994 Federal Crime Bill it can be concluded that the program objective of recreation was the most common programs objective. The social disorganization/social bonding policy orientation was the most common policy orientation. Lastly, non-profits were the most common institutional affiliation. Finally it can be concluded that the introduction of the 1994 Federal Crime Bill did not affect the objectives nor did it affect the policy orientations of local youth violence prevention programs. However, it can be concluded that the intro...