The Subway-Crime Death Spiral
The New York City subway and other transit systems face a vicious cycle, as fear of crime begets low ridership, which in turn begets more crime.
In March, as reports of sickening crimes in the New York City subway filled local and national news, Mayor Eric Adams promised to get tough on criminals and tamp down on the incidents. Yet a prolific but little-watched vlogger was skeptical. Harkening back to the bad old days of crime in the 1980s, this was, the man said on YouTube, the “same old shit again.”
“He can’t stop no fuckin’ crime in no subways. He might slow it down, but he ain’t stoppin’ shit,” said the man, who called himself prophetoftruth88. “Those who gonna commit crimes, like the shooting? … You can’t stop that. You’d have to have a policeman in every station. That’s not possible.”
As though fulfilling his own prophecy, the man, whose name is Frank James (
