Politically, crime doesn't pay

IF THE PRESIDENTIAL campaign debate were a reliable gauge of the nation's problems, the country would be practically free of crime. Neither Barack Obama nor John McCain is paying sufficient attention to criminal justice. In some ways, the issue may seem like a throwback to 1992, when murder rates were spiking nationwide. Yet it is worth recalling New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's warning just last year that Americans have a much greater chance of being killed by crime than by a terror strike.

On paper, at least, McCain looks marginally tougher on crime, with his broad support for the death penalty and call for more spending on federal prisons. But Obama, who supports the death penalty in limited cases, including child rape, is hardly a bleeding heart on crime and punishment. Both candidates view gun ownership as an individual right, but Obama favors sensible limits, such as a federal ban on assault weapons. McCain stubbornly opposes the ban. Yet he has made enemies in the gun lobby by leading efforts in Congress to close the gun show loophole that allows buyers to elude background checks.

Despite an overall drop in crime rates over the past decade, fear of crime remains a daily concern for residents in many American cities. The candidates are giving short shrift to the issue by succumbing to their own fear of talking about crime.

Obama may be reluctant to draw attention to his hometown problems in Chicago, where murder and gun violence rates are up sharply.

McCain may see no political upside of the crime issue, either. He alienated the gun lobby again by supporting the rollback of the insidious Tiahrt amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement agencies to gain access to comprehensive federal gun tracing data as a means to identify rogue gun dealers. McCain should be proud of his opposition, but he prefers to lie low.

For smart thinking about punishment, Obama has the edge with his opposition to mandatory minimum sentences. McCain has voted in favor of mandatory minimum sentences for gun and drug crimes. Yet he is also a strong supporter of drug rehabilitation programs for prisoners and has stated that prison is not the right answer for many first-time drug offenders.

Americans of all races are still waiting for a healthy debate on why black people are imprisoned at five times the rate of white people. Is it the breakdown of families, the failure of social and economic interventions, or racial bias on the part of police or prosecutors? This subject deserves at least as much attention from the candidates as they give to "diplomacy without preconditions."

Each candidate still has some explaining to do. Voters deserve to hear more about why McCain voted against bipartisan crime bills during the 1990s. And Obama's position on the constitutionality of citywide bans on handguns remains murky, at best.

The candidates seem only too happy to duck discussions about crime. Neither, therefore, deserves commendation as an especially effective crime-fighter.