Focus on juvenile offenders before they become adult felons
Violent crime in the United States fell last year by 1.9 percent and property crimes by 0.8 percent, according to an analysis by the Justice Policy Institute.
The analysis, based on the 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report, also found a drop in incarceration rates from previous years. The Justice Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank, say the numbers bolster the case for a connection between effective alternatives to incarceration and public safety.
"The report shows that we can preserve public safety while expanding the use of community supervision and improving the systems that help people be successful, including treatment, housing and job services," said Tracy Velázquez, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute.
Velázquez said the new numbers demonstrate that criminal justice reform efforts in many states are beginning to show results.
For example, the Redeploy Illinois Program supports community-based alternatives to incarcerating juvenile offenders. The program provides funding to counties to deliver individualized services for young offenders, such as therapy, substance abuse treatment, and life skills education. The program also encourages victim offender panels, teen courts and other measures.
Research has found that nonviolent youth are less likely to become further involved in criminal behavior if they remain in their home communities and receive services that address underlying needs, such as mental illness, substance abuse, learning disabilities, unstable living arrangements and dysfunctional parenting. It has also been demonstrated that it is less expensive than a jail sentence.
"This progressive effort builds on the work done in other states, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, which successfully reduced juvenile incarceration rates through similarly structured programs," said Velázquez.
While programs such as those in Illinois are effective for first-time juvenile offenders, adults convicted a second or third time for violent crime must be kept behind bars. After all, the Justice Department reported a few years ago that 40 percent of those discharged from parole went back to jail or prison for violations. The revolving door must stop.
Another way to reduce crime is for local police departments to embrace the "broken-window theory." First articulated by criminologists James Wilson and George Kelling, the theory holds that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of apathy and lawlessness spreads.
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, ''The Tipping Point,'' wrote that New York City used this theory to combat crime in the 1980s and '90s. They found that small things, such as keeping the subways free of graffiti and arresting fare jumpers, helped combat crime because these small actions related a sense of caring as opposed to apathy. Also, thugs figured that if they could get away with misdemeanors, they could graduate to felonies.
Unfortunately, many U.S. cities tolerated too many "petty'' crimes. They also let some of their best crime-prevention strategies collapse, such as building partnerships among law enforcement, social service providers, church and community leaders in preventing crime.
Copyright © Cape Cod Media Group, a division of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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