A completely different essay, without much connection to law and therefore requiring both a different style of writing and of editing. I think the primary route to improvement here, however, would be to take the same approach that we took to the first draft at the strategy level: what is the primary idea the essay wishes to get across? Is the question, how to reduce street violence in Chicago? Or, what has happened to the political geography of gangs in Chicago? Or, why do urban police forces uniformly believe in strong national gun control?

The first question requires complex answers, or else a simple answer: more money. Why does Rahm Emmanuel risk his political existence by closing schools? Because Chicago cannot afford to educate its children. It also cannot afford to police its streets. Illinois cannot afford the pensions of its public servants, and its prisons have been mostly turned over to gangs. The very rich of New York City pay enough income taxes to provide almost the majority of New York State's income tax revenues over all. New York City is policed by the largest force run by the smartest police commissioner in the country. The very rich of Illinois elect Bruce Rauner the way the Koch's of Kansas, the Upper East Side and Nantucket bankroll Scott Walker next door. Chicago policing has been a joke throughout my lifetime and the lifetimes of several Daleys, a Byrne, an Emmanuel, and even an occasional Washington.

The second and third questions are easier but less rewarding to write about, because new ideas are harder to have even as the old ones are simpler to rewrite.