Americans are concerned. They are afraid that they can't trust others, from those in positions of power to people in their community. Fifty-nine percent of Americans surveyed believed that the majority of problems in the United States were the result of a lack of morality. A large segment of our adult population is in crisis. They are either involved with substance abuse and a criminal life style, or are members of households where violence occurs on a regular basis. Our children are both victims and perpetrators of the problems of our times. The illusion that this state of the nation is someone else's dilemma is just that, an illusion. This concerns us all. 

•  The U.S. incarceration rate leads the world. With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the United States holds 25 percent of the globe's prisoners. The yearly cost of operating U.S. prisons and jails is estimated at $40 billion and constitutes the nation's largest, costliest program in human services.

•  80 % of the men and women behind bars - some 1.4 million individuals - are seriously involved with drug and alcohol abuse and the crimes it spawns.

•  Domestic violence causes more injuries to women than car accidents, rapes, and muggings combined. It happens in a third of all relationships, at all income levels.

•  It is estimated that 25% of workplace problems such as absenteeism, lower productivity, turnover and excessive use of medical benefits are due to family violence.

•  Half the children in violent homes are physically abused; all are emotionally abused. And violence repeats itself; without intervention, a third of the boys in these families will grow up to repeat the cycle of violence.

•  Every four minutes an American child is arrested for a violent crime.

•  More than half of the nation's schools reported at least some incidents of violence in 1996-97.

•  In one study, two-thirds of urban youths and 40% of suburban youths reported having been beaten up, robbed, stabbed or shot.

•  Nearly one in three high school students admitted to stealing something from a store more than once in 1996.

•  9.9 percent of youths age 12-17 reported current use of illicit drugs in 1998, including 1.1 million youths who met the diagnostic criteria for dependence on illicit drugs.

•  California spent $10.9 billion in one year to deal with the effects of drug and cigarette abuse.

To effect positive change, we must direct our attention to education and relevant social services. Viable programs, such as training in life skills, can make a major difference. Research has shown that substance abuse treatment is associated with reduced criminal activity as well as reduced drug use. In another study, comprehensive youth services cut delinquency in half. In Lansing , Michigan , crime went down seventy-five percent in targeted neighborhoods after police, local schools and a social service agency opened a community center and launched a youth development program. Life skills can also make a difference in terms of job performance. As Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, said "When I looked at the data from hundreds of companies, I discovered that emotional competencies are twice as important for professional success as IQ plus technical skill combined - and that's true for every job from salesperson to CEO."

Sources:

Today Show, NBC, Bringing Up Baby, 4/18/97

Ed Marciniak, 2002

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University , 1996.

Battered Women's Alternatives, 1997

Employee Assistance Providers, National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women, 1995

Battered Women's Alternatives, 1997

The State of America 's Children, Children's Defense Fund Yearbook, 1996

National Center for Education Statistics, March 1998

Campbell and Schwarz, 1996

United Airlines Hemispheres, August 1996, from a 1996 report by the Josephson Institute of Ethics

National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1998

www.kfwb.com , 2001

Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment; Broome, Knight, Hiller, & Simpson; 1996.

Intervening with High Risk Youth, National Institute of Justice Research Preview, April 1996, reported by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids

Don Christi, Lansing Police Department, Lansing , Michigan , 1995, as reported by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids

Self, November 1998