While crime and public safety may be integrally related and in some cases identical, there is an important distinction. “Fighting crime” is procedural and “getting tough on criminals” is punitive—and that’s certainly important. But “safety,” although somewhat abstract, is definitely personal, and most of all aspirational—the ultimate value and the desired result of an effort to fight crime. And so Rudy Giuliani adopted not just an anti-crime message but a pro–public-safety agenda—and his success in New York City led to the reframing of the way Americans think about crime, criminals, and a
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