Dear Skydancer,
re: “People would then turn to mass transit where they’d be mugged.”
That is life in the big city, and has been going on way before the days of that fellow, Bernard Goetz.
But more of them.
Particularly in Chicago. Charles Yerkes basically built the initial modern transit system in Chicago (and London).
He was frequently the target of Chicago opinion writers for both the lack of safety - design/maintenance - on his elevated trains, as well as the amount of crime.
Though, I'm guessing it was a somewhat different demographic among the thug population than the current crop of perpetrators, whether muggers or carjackers.