When Isaac Fulwood, Jr., resigned from the office of Chief of Police for the District of Columbia, he did so saying, “I want a sense that if my wife walks out into the yard, nobody's going to run into the yard and kill her. When she goes to the store, I don't want people to take her car. Fear is greater than the crime itself, because it changes everything” (quoted in the New York Times, Sept. 20, 1992, section 4, p. 7). Chief Fulwood was particularly troubled by the callousness represented in one young man's claim that he killed because his victim “deserved to die,” and in another's because he felt like “busting somebody.”

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation brought together the authors of this book. We are people who believe that something can be done to make life in cities safer, to make growing up in cities less risky, and to reduce the violence that so often permeates urban childhood. Under the auspices of Karen Colvard and Joel Wallman, we met to present our ideas and defend or change them in the light of criticisms from our colleagues. As editor, I pushed to have the chapters present the strongest case possible for whatever points of view their authors chose to take. As a group, we committed ourselves to the task of trying to make a difference in the direction of reducing violence.