from multiple perspectives, documenting the
1990-1991 Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm.
Spencer, William J.Global Studies: The Middle East.
11th ed. Dubuque, Iowa: McGraw-Hill, 2007. A su-
perb and comprehensive survey of Middle East-
ern nations, with information on each individual
country, as well as data on the region as a whole.
Taylor, Alan.The Superpowers and the Middle East. Syra-
cuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1991. A de-
tailed look at the history of international rela-
tions involving nations in the Middle East and
their relationships to the United States, Europe,
and Soviet diplomacy and policies.
David Boersema
See also Clinton, Bill; CNN coverage of the Gulf
War; EgyptAir Flight 990 crash; Foreign policy of
the United States; Gulf War; Israel and the United
States; Terrorism; U.S. embassy bombings in Africa;
World Trade Center bombing.
Midnight basketball
Identification Crime-prevention program
designed for youths
Date Began in 1985
Later considered a secondar y program for attempting to
control inner-city crime, midnight basketball, like other
neighborhood-oriented programs in the United States, lost
community support and necessar y funding for its survival.
The concept of midnight basketball was first pro-
posed in the mid-1980’s. However, it was not until
the early 1990’s that midnight basketball gained no-
toriety as a possible crime-prevention program. Pres-
ident Bill Clinton’s 1994 crime bill provided fund-
ing for neighborhood crime-prevention strategies.
The primary rationale for funding neighborhood
programs such as midnight basketball was a pro-
active approach by the government and community
leaders to deter crime by providing youths with
character-building activities. Police chiefs, city may-
ors, and evenSports Illustratedpraised midnight bas-
ketball for its success in aiding in the decline of vio-
lent offenses, property crimes, and nonviolent
juvenile offenses.
The major flaw with midnight basketball was not
found in the concept itself but rather was evident in
the era in which such programs were established.
The 1990’s witnessed an increase in violent crimes,
especially by inner-city youth. Also, the national con-
sensus in the 1990’s was to “get tough on crime” and
punish offenders with incarceration. Midnight bas-
ketball was seen by some as a poorly developed
scheme. Senator Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican
presidential candidate, many members of Congress,
and even radio personality Rush Limbaugh criti-
cized governmental spending for a crime-prevention
program aimed at urban neighborhoods as a waste
of money and as having a potentially racist under-
tone.
Communities that started midnight basketball
programs, such as those in Maryland, saw a 60 per-
cent drop in youth drug-related crime. Inner-city
public housing neighborhoods saw as high as a 78
percent reduction in juvenile crime. This trend was
seen in Atlanta; Kansas City, Missouri; and Fort
Worth, Texas.
The goal of midnight basketball programs was to
remove youth from the streets and allow them to be-
come attached to a formal group rather than crimi-
nal elements. Along with governmental funding,
community support from police, businesses, and
private donors funded such programs. The goal was
twofold: keep participants busy and provide positive
role models, and keep participants crime-free while
providing job skills. Guidelines were strict, and par-
ticipation in crime would often bar an individual
from playing midnight basketball. Although many
inner-city programs were developed in the early
1990’s, federal cutbacks and lack of city funding lim-
ited the potential growth of the midnight basketball
in the early twenty-first century.
Impact The desire for midnight basketball pro-
grams had not declined by the late 1990’s, but fed-
eral and local spending for programs deemed “ex-
pendable” had shifted to other crime-prevention
programs. Nevertheless, even if the intended impact
of midnight basketball was not found on a large
scale, testimonials of a small percentage of Ameri-
cans, including some National Basketball Associa-
tion (NBA) athletes, praised midnight basketball for
its positive influence on their lives.
Further Reading
Farrell Walter, et al. “Redirecting the Lives of Urban
Black Males: An Assessment of Milwaukee’s Mid-
night Basketball League.”Journal of Community
Practice2, no. 4 (May, 1996): 91-107.The Nineties in America Midnight basketball 571