The curse of violent crime has touched many American families, including our own. A surprising number of the TIME staff members who worked on this week's cover stories have themselves recently been victims of crimes. Senior Writer Ed Magnuson, who wrote the main story, was mugged at knifepoint as he put the key in the lock of his front door earlier this year. He lost $32 and his credit cards. A few months before that, Magnuson's apartment was burglarized. "The only evidence they left behind was a pair of shoes," he says. "They weren't even my size." Associate Editor John Leo, who wrote the assessment of crime's impact on American society, is a two-time burglary victim. Says he: "All U.S. cities are in danger of becoming unlivable. For a parent, the fear for your children is never very far from your mind."

Correspondent David Jackson awoke early one morning in his Chicago apartment to find a robber pointing a gun at him. The man took $5 and fled. Says Jackson: "Despite all the stories I had done about truly violent crimes, I was still unprepared for the clammy, hand-trembling fear that comes with being a victim." After a neighbor was brutally murdered in his Manhattan apartment building, Correspondent Robert Geline agreed to assist in the investigation. He was hypnotized by police in order to help him recall details of the crime. Says Geline sadly: "Eight months later the murder remains unsolved." Last month TIME'S Marc Levinson had his Atlanta home broken into on two consecutive weekends. "I was not at home either time," says Levinson. "But I felt the anger and true sense of violation that come when someone has ransacked your property."

Last week Deputy Art Director Irene Ramp, who was working on the presentation of this week's cover stories, was the only customer in a Manhattan clothing store when two men walked in, drew pistols and demanded money from the cashier. Ramp remained silent in the dressing room, where she had been trying on a shirt, until the men had made their getaway with about $300. "If I had surprised them, anything could have happened," she says. Ramp emerged from the ordeal unscathed-but $25 poorer: "After watching the whole thing, I felt obliged to buy the shirt." Assistant Picture Editor Sue Considine, who gathered the photos that accompany the cover stories, lost $120 from her pocketbook in a Greenwich Village restaurant. Says she: "Now I know to keep it on my lap."

The most frightening thing, perhaps, is that it has all become so commonplace. But one crime, certainly, has left a lasting scar of frustration and loss on the entire staff. TIME Photographer Paul Keating was shot to death on a Manhattan street last year as he attempted to stop a mugging.

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