THE ROAD TO SAFETY: WAR ON CRIME NEEDS INNOVATIVE STRATEGY

The American approach to fighting crime is reminiscent of the
ages-old treatment for leprosy -- banish lepers to colonies and let
them rot away, out of society's sight and mind.

We do that with criminals, jailing people for all manner of offenses,
violent or not. We're good at it. We have a higher percentage of our
population in jails and prisons than any other country in the world.
By a large margin.

One in every 100 adult Americans is behind bars. Since 1978, our
incarceration rate has increased 700 percent We should see by now
that this treatment is as effective as leper colonies were in ending
leprosy. Or, to use another analogy, as effective as warehousing was
in treating mental illness. Here in Fayetteville, as in many other
parts of the state and country, the crime rate is rising anyway,
despite intense efforts of well-trained police out there, doing their
best. Robberies, for example, were up more than 30 percent last year.
Aggravated assaults up more than 20 percent.

As this region's crime rate rises dramatically, it's almost certain
that loud and compelling calls for locking more people up will be
among the first put on the table. But faced with 30 years of evidence
that tells us that strategy won't work, it's time for this community
to examine some alternatives.

More cops on the street?

One thing the city will certainly look at is hiring more cops and
sending them out on patrol, because police presence is a deterrent to
crime. But that is only a small part of what Fayetteville and
surrounding communities need to do.

Economist Steven Levitt, co-author of the bestselling book
"Freakonomics," calculates that every dollar spent on police is 20
percent more effective than a dollar spent on prisons. That's one for
state policymakers to look into, since the collision of prison
overcrowding with budget shortfalls is a significant part of the
state's fiscal crisis.

But growing the Police Department -- along with expanding "community
policing" and encouraging neighborhood watch organizations -- will
only go so far, and the fix will be temporary. That's because we're
still treating symptoms, and not root causes. It won't cure crime any
more than "iron lungs" and braces cured polio. It took a vaccine to do that.

Poverty and drugs

With crime, part of the vaccine is addressing poverty. Many people
turn to crime when they have no other way to make a living. If you're
poor and uneducated, what other way is there to earn a five-figure or
six-figure income, other than, say, dealing drugs or fencing stolen
property? One of the keys to eradicating poverty is education. We
must redouble our efforts to keep our children in school. Dropouts
are far more likely to end up with criminal records. And we must also
accelerate efforts in early-childhood education, which is a proven
way to ignite a lifelong commitment to learning.

Another part is dealing with addictions, to drugs and alcohol. As any
jailer will affirm, fully 80 percent to 90 percent of the people in
their custody got there by a route that included drugs, alcohol or
both. Further attempts at prohibition clearly won't work -- despite
the billions of dollars we've spent on the war on drugs, we are still
awash in them. The law of supply and demand cannot be repealed, or
even much modified. We need, instead, to create a far more effective
system of intervention and treatment, so addiction is recognized
early and leads quickly to treatment.

Home-grown innovation is possible

It's time for Fayetteville to take a farther-reaching, more
innovative approach to crime reduction. Yes, we probably need more
cops on the street, but that won't make us that much safer. We need
to bring together this city's best and brightest, including our
academic institutions -- the Institute for Community Justice at
Fayetteville State University is tailor-made to help lead an initiative.

We can win this war on crime, but only if we adopt new strategies and
tactics. Otherwise, we're probably doomed to an endless cycle of failures.