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The Real Crime

An illustration of Breonna Taylor, with white roses crowning her and a label "JUSTICE".

Attack ads and contemporary political rhetoric about crime have a disturbing campaign ancestor: The Willie Horton ad that may have cost Michael Dukakis the presidential election in 1988. It relied on racism for its efficacy, and it ushered in an era of so-called “tough-on-crime” laws and posturing that nearly broke criminal legal systems, like the…

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New Mexico in Focus is on hiatus as our team gears up for coverage of the general election; we'll be back with all new journalism in October.