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Subject: Study of U.S. Violence Urges Tailoring Remedies for Many-Rooted Problem<By
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 04:39:11 EST
Message-ID: <11.1992Nov13.043912@AmeriCast.com>

Study of U.S. Violence Urges Tailoring Remedies for Many-Rooted
Problem<By Boyce Rensberger=Washington Post Staff Writer=

Violent crime in the United States results from so many different
kinds of behavior in so many different settings that it cannot be
solved by any blanket remedy or reform, a panel of the National
Research Council said in a massive report released yesterday.
The panel said each type of violence must be combatted through a
program tailored to its special nature. Although earlier studies
of specialized approaches have claimed that many of them work, in
no case did the panel find the evidence of success convincing
enough to recommend that it be widely adopted.

Instead, the panel urged that a wide range of new studies be done
to test the programs more rigorously to come up with conclusive
findings.  "There's a common misunderstanding about the nature of
crime," said Albert J.  Reiss Jr., chairman of the panel. "It's
not a homogeneous entity. Our message is that each type of crime
needs its own specific remedy."

Reiss, a Yale University sociologist, cited the example of homi-
cide, which can be the result of "ten or 20 different kinds of
behavior" as diverse as wife-beating, arson, robbery or minor
disputes that escalate under the influence of alcohol.

One blanket approach that the United States has tried on a large
scale but which the panel said has not shown clear benefit is to
lengthen prison terms. Since 1979, the average sentence for
violent crime has nearly tripled but there has been no decline in
the rate of violent crime.

If keeping criminals in prison longer has had any effect, Reiss
said, it has been overwhelmed by other factors that have in-
creased the number of criminals still on the street.  Nonethe-
less, the panel said, there was hope that American society - the
most violent in the industrial world with six million victims of
violent crime a year, 23,000 of them murdered - can be made
safer. The report cited the examples of Britain, France, Norway
and Sweden, all of which once had much higher rates of violent
crime but which gradually changed into more peaceable societies -
even to the extent of eliminating high prevalences of guns. The
most common forms of violent crime that the panel considered were
murder, rape, robbery and assault.

Despite continuing high crime rates, the report said American
violence is not the worst it has ever been. There have been two
earlier peaks in this century - in the early 1930s and around
1980. After each, the crime rate declined.

"Historical data suggests that certain cities may have experi-
enced still higher homicide rates during the 19th century," the
report said.

The 19-member panel's 464-page report, "Understanding and
Preventing Violence," presents the findings of scores of studies
dealing with a range of matters from biological factors such as
genes and brain chemistry to social effects such as child-rearing
practices.

The panel's staff director, Jeffrey A. Roth, gave an example of
the need for more rigorous testing of crime control methods. He
cited a Minneapolis study that concluded the best way to curb
wife-beating was to arrest the husband rather than let him off
with a warning. When the study was repeated by other police
departments, the results were mixed. Subsequent research, Roth
said, showed that if it was a low-income family with an unem-
ployed husband, arresting him caused him to be even more violent
the next time. Middle-class husbands, on the other hand, were
chastened by being arrested.

The panel rejected the notion that there might be "crime genes"
that dictate behavior. While some geneticists have suggested that
hereditary factors may predispose individuals to things like
"poor impulse control" under certain environmental conditions,
their ideas have often been misunderstood as implying a deter-
ministic effect.  But, Reiss said, "We don't want to back away
from the evidence that there could well be biological factors
despite the unpopularlity of that. This requires considerable
research."

The panel cited various measures that have shown promise in con-
trolling violence:<

Because many assaults - and even homicides - are spawned in
drunken bar arguments, bartenders should be trained to spot inci-
pient clashes and either mediate or call the police, who will
send or take one party home while holding the other back. Prelim-
inary studies show that such measures may prevent violent at-
tacks.<

When British researchers found that gang violence was worst in
public housing areas with a high proportion of single-parent
households, they began scattering such families more widely, put-
ting them in neighborhoods with two-parent families. Gang
violence decreased.<

Norway has found a way to control assaults by students on one
another through an anti-bully program. Teachers are trained to
spot bullies and work with them to reduce their need to attack
younger children.  After-school violence is now way down.<

Britain has reduced child abuse through a program in which a
nurse makes regular house calls on all families with new babies.
The nurse can give advice on a variety of health matters and spot
potential problems. Child abuse in Britain has been reduced.

The National Research Council is the working arm of the National
Academy of Sciencies. Copies of the report are available from the
National Academy Press.<02:11 11-13C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)