Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jun 2007
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2007 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Neal Peirce
Note: Neal Peirce writes about state and local government and federal 
relations. Write him c/o Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. 
NW, Washington, DC 20071
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?247 (Crime Policy - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

CAN WE STOP THE 'GATHERING STORM' OF VIOLENT CRIME?

America Needs Greater Focus on Prevention, Not on Incarceration

Are the bad old days back? Read the headlines and you'd think so: 
"Violent crime blazing back in America" and "Big-city murders way up 
since '04." The Police Executive Research Forum sees a "gathering 
storm" of violent crime, a "tipping point" in many cities.

There's something to this: The FBI's Uniform Crime Report shows 
violent offenses up 1.3 percent last year, following a 2.3 percent 
rise in 2005. That's the first significant jump in years, following 
the astonishing crime reductions of the 1990s that leveled off in the 
early 2000s. Skeptics say that this may just be a blip, that it would 
take a decade of such reversals to get us back to the roaring crime 
rates of the 1980s and early '90s.

But let's assume the recent rise is serious.

What's happening?

Lots of competing explanations get offered: Gang problems are growing 
in smaller cities. Gun laws are loose, and the politicos fear to 
stiffen them. Because we have the world's highest incarceration rate, 
rising numbers of inmates are being released from prisons -- far too 
of them few rehabilitated or able to land a job. The focus of America 
has shifted to homeland security -- like a Cyclops who's shifted his 
eye to watching airports and public buildings while giving short 
shrift to demonstrably effective community-oriented policing. On top 
of all that, the federal government has cut back more than $2 billion 
in Justice Department law enforcement programs such as the 
Clinton-era COPS program, which helped local governments deploy an 
added 100,000 police officers. Local officials' priority is renewed 
funding for the COPS program.

My reaction: OK, more police resources help (especially if they're 
focused on community policing). But what else?

Too Many Inmates

Arguably the biggest long-term payoff would result from turning back 
the clock on America's furious but failed "war on drugs," the trigger 
for a high share of all American crime today.

Roughly 60 percent of convicts serve time related to drug peddling 
and addiction.Everyone wants truly dangerous criminals behind bars -- 
indeed for as long as possible.

But our society is so prison-happy we'll add 192,000 more inmates by 
2011, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. That would trigger 
roughly $12.5 billion in new prison construction and $15 billion in 
added operating costs. There's surely a smarter way to use our public dollars.

A study by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy showed 
that $1 spent imprisoning drug offenders produced 37 cents in crime 
reduction benefits; the same $1 spent to give offenders 
community-based drug treatment produced $18.52 in benefits.

How about prevention -- investing early, systematically, in kids and 
families? This is the issue all the alarming crime headlines and 
quick political fixes ignore.

Poverty, broken families, poor education and significant crime are 
inextricably bundled.

Early childhood nutrition, care and education can pay off hugely later.

A 5 percent increase in male high school graduation rates, the 
Alliance for Excellent Education reports, would produce yearly 
savings of $5 billion in crime-related expenses -- plus dramatically 
higher earnings and life prospects for the students. What of the 
argument that we can't "afford" the depth of services that other 
advanced nations provide?

A new study by the research and low-income advocacy group CFED notes 
that the federal government in 2005 spent $367 billion -- a third of 
a trillion dollars -- on direct outlays and tax breaks for home 
ownership, savings and investment, retirement accounts and small 
business development. But the benefits are wildly skewed.

The average total benefit was $57,673 for the wealthiest 1 percent of 
taxpayers, a negligible $3 for the poorest fifth of the population.

Build mindset of hope Ray Boshara of the New America Foundation has a 
radically better idea: Establish an "American Stakeholder Account" 
for every child at birth -- initial government deposit $6,000, plus 
eligibility for dollar-for-dollar matching funds for voluntary 
contributions up to $500 a year. Assuming modest but steady 
contributions, a young person might have $20,000 by age 18 for 
college tuition, a home, starting a business or long-term savings. 
What does such an idea have to do with crime?

A lot. Building a mindset of hope is the best conceivable antidote to 
the lure of the streets, gangs and drug dependency. The ultimate 
benefits to the U.S. economy, in added wage earners and taxpayers, 
and fewer mired in lives of desperation, could be immense. America's 
surest road to a safer society is what we always claimed to be the 
best at -- building opportunity.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake