Though crimes occur everywhere, high rates of crime—along with joblessness, illegitimacy, and poverty—are concentrated in inner cities. Social scientists therefore look for the causes of crime in the correlations between these social factors.

Like many liberals, Samuel L. Myers, the Roy Wilkins Professor of Human Relations and Social Justice at the University of Minnesota, maintains that economic factors (such as joblessness and poverty) are the root causes of crime. He argues that the decline of industry in cities and the resultant loss of stable, well- paying jobs, particularly for black men, “contribute to blocked opportunities, creating incentives to illegal activity.” He maintains that the majority of inner- city youth can earn more money from illegal activities such as drug dealing than from the few legitimate minimum-wage jobs available. Because a lack of economic opportunities leads to crime and...