Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990 TAG: 9006260104
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: D.K. PACE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The friends and peers of many behind bars are basically in rebellion against society. They reject its norms. Some inmates have no viable economic prospects legally. They may even feel justified in cheating the system that they believe has done them wrong. Many white-collar criminals are dominated by materialism and greed.
What has the power to change these attitudes? What can make criminals think differently about life?
Maturity motivates. Studies show the single most significant factor correlated with reduced recidivism is age. As people mature, they commit fewer crimes.
Fear, too, can be a strong motivator, especially for the white-collar criminal - the fear of losing the esteem of family and friends that a criminal conviction would bring. But the rate of detecting, prosecuting and convicting white-collar criminals must become much higher for this fear to make much difference.
For others, especially those committing drug-related and violent crimes, fear of punishment has limited deterrence. For some, life on the street may be more difficult and dangerous than life behind bars. For others, addiction is just too powerful.
Another powerful motivator exists: spiritual conversion. This motivator has been ignored in media treatment of the inmate crisis. The press may not be comfortable with conversion, but there are many case histories of former offenders who attribute to spiritual conversion a significant role in their turning away from crime. Religious commitments and church involvement do not make it impossible for a person to commit crime, as has been demonstrated dramatically on numerous occasions, but one encounters few inmates who were actively involved in church at the time they committed crimes.
Spiritual conversion can affect the inmate population crisis in at least two major ways. Increased emphasis upon religious programs behind bars can help turn some from future crimes. Funding limitations keep most jail and prison religious programs (whether state-sponsored or provided by private religious organizations) from reaching all the "reachable" inmates.
It takes only $50,000 to $60,000 a year to fund the ministry of a religious worker, including materials and associated volunteers behind bars - about the cost of keeping just three inmates in prison for a year. Very few religious programs will affect the lives of only three inmates a year, even if they help fewer than 1 percent of the inmates in the jail or prison change their lives. Thus, apart from any spiritual reasons, society has an economic reason to be interested in ministry to prisoners.
Second, increasing ministry to inner-city youth, a primary source of future inmates, can reduce the future inmate population. Many churches with substantial financial resources have left the inner cities, leaving behind a spectrum of needs in those communities to churches with very limited funds. Some religious groups make special efforts to reach inner-city youth, but much more could be done if funds were available.
Where could the money come from to make increased religious programs possible behind bars and in our inner cities? Government budgets will be stretched too thin buying more beds for inmates to put money into spiritual ministries, even if there were no church-state separation issues to consider. Churches should do more, and perhaps some of them will gain a larger vision; but others, too, can help.
Who benefits from reduced crime? We all do. Every individual, every business, everyone. Can enlightened self-interest guide individuals, businesses and others to see the wisdom of making tomorrow safer by investing today in more religious programs behind bars and in the inner cities? Perhaps so.
This is an approach to the inmate population problem that can be taken immediately. There are enough organizations already working behind bars and in the inner cities whose ministries could greatly expand with more funds that there need be no delay in implementation. All it would take is a few contributions.
Has our attitude become so secular that spiritual approaches to help deal with serious problems are totally ignored? That doesn't seem very smart. The inmate population crisis is too serious to ignore any significant aspect of coping with it.
by CNB