Middle America's Crime Wave

Barrett's administration has tried to address unemployment through a huge investment in real estate development and tax incentives to attract business. The mayor says those efforts have created more than 10,000 local jobs. Most of them, however, are either high-tech positions beyond the skills of many Milwaukee residents or low-wage service slots in retail shops and chain restaurants that pay less than needed to support a family.

"People who have put in a full day's work are generally too tired to go out and terrorize the neighborhood by night," alderman Willie Wade says. Employment can assuage other social ills. It leads to more homeownership--meaning fewer absentee landlords and the drug houses that can go with them. And a job can anchor an entire family. Says Wade: "A little money in his pocket can convince a man to be a father to his children instead of stealing his neighbor's Cadillac."