LeDuff: Answers, accountability lacking as more bodies fall in Detroit

[scottn55]

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/nei...-violence/526/

Interesting article... If it actually works as a deterrent to crime I'd rather spend public money on this than things, like jailing nonviolent drug offenders, that don't. At the very least it improves the area's aesthetic.

[canuck]

Interesting article... If it actually works as a deterrent to crime I'd rather spend public money on this than things, like jailing nonviolent drug offenders, that don't. At the very least it improves the area's aesthetic.

Agreed. Of course, Detroit needs more policing first and foremost. What is the single deterrant to Detroit's desirability; crime. But Detroitplanner's article illustrates the need for a softening of the cityscape in these terms. I think that our cities have become more punitive in time. There is a lot to demoralize, not only in the barren and blighted spaces but in the uninspired architecture. Anyhow there are good reasons to find other means of curbing crime than the usual coercitive, punitive cycle.