We envision an America free of crime, where all citizens live fully in accord with both natural law and national law; where people freely move on the streets without fear; and where Americans live and work together harmoniously for both their own fulfillment and the national good.
THE PROBLEM
Crime costs Americans $450 billion annually. Despite two decades of “get tough” policies -- with longer, often mandatory prison sentences -- the rate of crime in America is high compared to other developed nations. Of gravest concern, juvenile violent crime has spiraled during the past decade -- especially urban gang and school violence using guns. According to the Centers for Disease Control, American youths are 12 times more likely to die by gunfire than their peers in other nations. An FBI crime report concluded that “every American has a realistic chance of being murdered because of the random nature [that] crime has assumed.”
America's criminal justice system is under constant strain. Courts, police, probation and parole agencies, and prisons are overworked and inadequate to deal with the high level of crime.
Clearly, a “get-tough” policy is not enough. Effective crime prevention is also crucial. Yet despite the dismal track record of “get-tough” approaches, Republican and Democratic legislators ignore proven preventive strategies and press for more police, more prisons, and stiffer punishment. Consider the following:
Building more prisons has not worked. Since 1971, the U.S. prison population has increased sixfold to over 1.8 million incarcerated in 1500 state and federal prisons and 3000 jails. The U.S. now has the largest percentage of its citizens behind bars. Incarceration acts like a quarantine, preventing a faster acceleration of crime, but fails to eradicate the source of the crime epidemic.
The threat of punishment is not enough. Most violent crime is “an impulsive response to an immediate stressful situation,” often committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol -- not a rational, considered action.
Many experts feel that prisons train inmates to be better criminals. Most violent crime is committed by hard-core repeat offenders: the majority of all prisoners commit new crimes and are arrested within three years of release.
More police on the street does not lower crime. Published reports indicate that increased police patrols in major U.S. cities have had little effect on crime rates. Washington, D.C., for example, has the highest police/population ratio in the nation -- and one of the highest violent crime rates. The $25 billion crime bill designed to deploy 100,000 more police represents merely a drop in the bucket and is hardly effective or cost-effective.
Increasing recognition of the need for prevention has led to experimental approaches such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and midnight basketball. Unfortunately, long-term scientific studies have found no significant effects on crime and drug abuse from such programs.
THE SOLUTION
We believe that these “bandaid” approaches do not work because they fail to address the root cause of crime -- the epidemic of stress throughout society. During the past two decades, medical science has documented the alarming rise of stress-related illness such as hypertension, stroke, and heart disease. This same build-up of stress is responsible for a similar rise in social illnesses -- crime, drug abuse, domestic violence, and family disintegration.
Effective prison rehabilitation -- The most cost-effective prevention strategy is to target those individuals who are at highest risk for crime -- the current prison inmate population, 90% of whom will be released from prison. A five-year Harvard study investigated the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique in a maximum security prison. Inmates who learned the practice decreased significantly in stress, aggression, and mental disorders. Violence throughout the prison decreased, and the rate of return to prison among participating inmates was 30-35% less than for four other treatment groups. Similar studies in 28 other maximum security prisons have shown equally impressive results . (Current rehabilitation strategies put the cart before the horse. They try to reeducate and reform inmates without first changing inmates from within by eliminating the stress that makes them uninterested in education or incapable of being reformed.)
Community policing -- In New York City, a new initiative called computer-assisted community policing has been credited with reducing crime by 40% over two years. In this approach, police are assigned to high-crime neighborhoods identified by computer tracking, work closely with these neighborhoods, and are rewarded for preventing crime. According to statistics from the New York Police Department, murder in New York City dropped 31% during the first half of 1995 compared to the first six months of 1994, with similar reductions in other categories of violent crime. This striking improvement led one journalist to refer to New York as “the suddenly safer city”.
Urban revitalization -- Our overcrowded, decaying urban centers obviously contribute to the rise of stress and crime. Any program to reduce crime must involve a comprehensive plan to revitalize the inner cities, as laid out in our Revitalizing Our Inner Cities section.
Drug and alcohol rehabilitation -- A high proportion of crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol and drugs. A recent study of crime in New York City found that tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse cost the city's taxpayers and corporations $20 billion in 1994 -- 21 cents of every tax dollar. We need to introduce programs proven to reduce drug dependency, eliminate stress, and promote mental and physical health.
Preventing youth crime -- School dropouts are at highest risk for crime and drug abuse. What we need is more effective educational programs to keep children in school, off the streets, and out of the reach of crime. Educational programs unfold greater creativity and intelligence and develop ideal citizenship by raising life to be in accord with natural law and national law. A strong educational focus is the true, long-term solution to the pervasive problem of crime.
