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In the late 1980s and early 90s, when the homeless population got large in some cities, many city officials learned the same truths the hard way that New Orleanians are learning now - there are simply incorrigible, sociopathic people out there who cannot be allowed to mix with decent people in a confined setting. In the late 80s, homeless people started refusing to go to large urban shelters, because there were so many rapes, robberies, and assaults going on in them. Large shelters became a thing of the past because no decent people would go to them and nobody would work in them either. It was either leave people on the streets or open smaller shelters with maximum security. This was a good thing in the long run, as people learned that it is actually easier to move homelss people back into the mainstream if you deal with them in smaller numbers and on more of a personal and long-term basis, rather than just focus on getting temporary roofs over their heads in mass shelters.

The social pathology we are seeing in New Orleans is not new and should not be surprising to anyone. In every big city, there is a sizable population of sociopaths who will prey on normal people regardless of the situation. It is not racial. These people simply do not have the same internal moral compass as you and me. They do not care that there is a disaster, that there are people suddenly uprooted from homes, stranded tourists, defenseless children and old ladies, etc. In fact, they have no conventional sense of "caring" at all. Other people are just prey to them. They will beat and kill their own grandmothers if you let them. There is no answer except to round up these sociopaths and put them in maximum security prisons, or shoot to kill if they shoot first.

It is painful to see and read about these sociopaths in New Orleans, but these people have been out on the streets of that city raping, murdering, and robbing for years and there are the same kinds of people in every big city. Put enough of them in a large confined space and they are going to do things that shock normal, decent people. And it isn't like you can ID these people in a line going into the Superdome. But it is very predictable that in a population of 25,000 people going into a place like the Superdome, or 5,000 into the Convention Center, there will be a bunch of them and they will prey on people, because that is what they do.