Trump is wrong about crime – but right about the fear of it | Austin Sarat

The deployment of the national guard in Washington ignores the data. But Democrats must not ignore how people feel

In most of America's largest cities, crime, especially violent crime, is down. But the fear of crime is increasing.

Donald Trump has made a career out of ignoring the reality of crime rates and of stoking that fear. Well before he entered politics and throughout his political career, he has talked about city life as life in a proverbial jungle.

Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty