Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: the heroin highway -- History of the war -- Addicted to punishment -- A cycle unbroken -- The space between -- Missing parents -- Missing systems -- From urban to rural and back -- Limits to reform -- Conclusion: the path to peace.

The War on Neighborhoods argues that these trends are connected. Crime in Chicago, as in many other US cities, has been fueled by a broken approach to public safety in disadvantaged neighborhoods. For nearly forty years, public leaders have attempted to create peace through punishment, misinvesting billions of dollars toward the suppression of crime, largely into a small subset of neighborhoods on the city's West and South Sides. Meanwhile, these neighborhoods have struggled to sustain investments into basic needs such as jobs, housing, education, and mental healthcare.