MANY, if not most, Americans have a somewhat peculiar relation to the issue of crime. They deplore it, naturally, and grow upset and sometimes even seriously alienated at the idea that they are living in a country that seems to be positively beset with lawlessness. At the same time, they are powerfully drawn to the romance of the criminal—witness the way they reward entertainers (Francis Ford Coppola comes to mind) for such achievements as polishing the glamour of the Mafia.
Midge Decter is a writer and editor living in New York.
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