America spends an extraordinary amount of time debating the top one percent of the billionaires, corporate CEOs and hedge fund managers—and the widening gap between the rich and everyone else. It is an important conversation in a nation that prizes both opportunity and free enterprise.

But there is another one percent we talk about far too little.

Not the poor. Not the single mother working two jobs. Not the veteran struggling to find his footing. Not the family living paycheck to paycheck. Poverty is not a moral failing, and millions of Americans with modest means are among our country's finest citizens.

The one percent that should concern us is the small fraction of people who repeatedly choose to prey upon everyone else.

They are the repeat violent offenders. The organized retail thieves who have forced stores across America to lock up everyday necessities or close altogether. The gang members who turn neighborhoods into war zones. The fentanyl traffickers poisoning a generation. The cybercriminals stealing life savings from retirees. The carjackers, armed robbers and career criminals who leave law-abiding Americans paying the price.

Their numbers are relatively small.

Their impact is enormous.

Walk through many major cities today, and you see the consequences. Toothpaste, baby formula and detergent sit behind locked glass. Small businesses that survived COVID-19 have closed because they could not survive repeated theft. Insurance........

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