States have easy access to a plethora of proven ways to prevent violence. Unfortunately there is a penury of investment in effective violence prevention.
The Pew Center has started partnerships with some States to assist them to invest in prevention and other ways of reducing crime and so avoid cost over-runs due to excessive use of incarceration.
They are shifting the conversation from how much punishment to how much prevention will reduce harm to victims and at what cost to taxpayers.
Government agencies now provide searchable data banks of promising best practices which have been proven to prevent crime. Leading experts point to the successful ways to reduce violence by focusing on early childhood, youth programs and actions on violence against women.
Pioneering practitioners, experts and jurisdictions are balancing smart enforcement with greater investment in proven and logical prevention strategies. They call for braiding policing, schools, housing, social services and so on.
This blog provides selected sources for seven topics that recur in the pragmatic discussions about how to invest and make the successful shift to much greater reduction of crime and prevention of victimization.
There are too many victims. Many still do not get the services and rights that different jurisdictions show are possible.
My book Rights for Victims of Crime highlights many best practices as well as the tools and resources that are needed to advance law enforcement, service agencies and the legal profession. The book includes a model law that provides a comprehensive draft text for legislators.
Here is a check list of seven core rights that legislators must respect, and use, to reform laws and programs so that there are fewer crime victims and the survivors get the respect, services and rights that are practically and financially possible in 2012 and beyond.
In his introduction to the Safe Streets and Communities Act, the Canadian Minister of Justice noted crime must be reduced in Canada, given the 440,000 crimes of violence and 1.3 million crimes of property recorded by police last year. He stressed that $83 billion in harm to victims of crime in Canada justifies additional expenditures.
Smart enforcement and treatment must be balanced with smart prevention – fewer victims, less harm to victims, fewer cases for criminal justice, less deficit. This Act must include a short amendment to create a permanent and high level Crime Reduction Board to sustain efforts to prevent crime and enhance services and rights for victims of crime.
The Board would achieve its purpose, inter alia, by braiding federal government efforts to tackle the causes of violence, developing national standards and training, and sharing information with the public.
The Attorney General wants to save lives and invest in youth by ¨braiding¨ the support from multiple federal agencies for local partnerships.
His winning framework, made public last week, is a logical and evidence based strategy. It wants to shift crime policy from the expensive ¨only criminal justice¨ reaction to crime. It calls for a wise balance between smart enforcement, risk focused prevention, and rehabilitation.
It is critical because it addresses causes and uses data. Potentially it will reduce harm to crime victims while reinvesting over-expenditures on law enforcement and incarceration. For sustained success, it must invest in making the shift and retool to make prevention as important as reaction.
