Public Agenda Issue Guide: Crime

Citizens

are confronted with serious issues every minute of the day. Grasping the underlying issues from the headlines is a difficult task. Give us ten minutes a day and we will help bring clarity to the chaos of the news, policy and issues.

ON THE AGENDA

Will Too Much Debt Fuel A Double-Dip Recession?

Francie Grace
Nov 20, 2009

That was the question raised by President Obama during an interview in China (one of our biggest creditors), as cartoonists seized the opportunity to comment on America's looming national debt. "It is important," said Mr.

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Listening To Young Americans On The Deficit

Francie Grace
Nov 13, 2009

You wouldn't think the bottom line on the $1.6 trillion federal budget deficit and $11.9 trillion national debt crisis could be summed up in a single sentence, but when the right words whizzed by, the Wall Street Journal's David Wessel was quick to point them out.

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FACING UP TO THE
Nation's Finances

National Debt Clock

ISSUE GUIDE: Crime

OVERVIEW

Crime

The Issue at a Glance

Violent crime skyrocketed in the U.S starting in the late 1960s, a trend that continued into the early 1990s. It's no wonder that crime has consistently been one of the public's major concerns over the past three decades.

But since the mid-1990s, there has been a dramatic drop in crime against both people and property.

GET THE FACTS

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CONSIDER THE CHOICES

Getting Tougher with Offenders

Getting to the Roots of Violent Crime

Taking Rehabilitation Seriously

The underlying problem is that American society is too lenient with violent criminals, thereby encouraging lawlessness. Serious crimes deserve serious punishment, no matter who commits them. Whether criminals are youths or adults and whether the crime is a first offense or a subsequent offense it must be punished unequivocally. The most promising solution is to get tougher with all criminals, to step up enforcement efforts, impose longer jail and prison sentences, and build more prisons.
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The United States has a serious crime problem because it is a harsh society. Unless we recognize corrosive social and economic forces that lead to criminality and take serious measures to address the causes of crime, we are unlikely to lower the rate of violent crime. Expanded efforts must be made to deal with underlying causes such as drug addiction and a lack of skills needed for gainful employment.
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As a nation, we have relied increasingly on harsh sentences and incarceration as the punishment of choice for most offenders. What we have chosen to overlook is that most offenders emerge from prison more dangerous than they were before. While taking various measures to protect public safety, we have to get serious about rehabilitating criminals, and choosing alternatives to incarceration that prepare offenders to reenter society as law-abiding citizens. With youthful criminals especially, the justice system must emphasize rehabilitation.
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