Very true, but that's even more of a nuanced and difficult long-term project, and too often it's easy for politicians to frame it as "soft on crime". For better

Very true, but that's even more of a nuanced and difficult long-term project, and too often it's easy for politicians to frame it as "soft on crime". For better or worse people really resent seeing criminals enjoy a standard of living that even begins to approach their own. That's another reason to raise the general standard of living, because until you do, people will just think in terms of, "Well I had it worse."