Peaceful

The Mission, Outreach, and Advocacy committee of Oshawa Presbytery, which I co-chair, is waiting for a response to a letter we wrote to the federal government in March. The good news is that we're not holding our breath for a response. The bad news is that the letter we wrote expressing concern about spending billions of dollars expanding correctional facilities in this country is one of three our presbytery sent without receiving acknowledgement.

Part of our concern is that it seemed before the election that a "tough on crime" agenda has been created despite the statistics indicating that violent crime and murder are decreasing in this country. We felt that as a Christian community we needed to call the government on this. We encouraged more effective crime prevention measures and restorative justice initiatives in situations where violence was not an aspect of the criminal act.

This week I got an email reminding me that the Global Peace Index will be released soon, an interesting project. It prompted my memory that in April there was a related release of the United States Peace Index. It stated that crime is declining in the States as well, although they are inviting a goal of becoming as peaceful as Canada. I quote:

Reductions in violence and crime to levels equal to Canada would yield an estimated $89 billion in direct savings, $272 billion in additional economic activity, and potentially create 2.7 million jobs.

We would never want to minimize the negative impact of violent crime, nor suggest that we do away with prisons. But isn't it interesting to see how our fears can be used to shape our perceptions of a problem?

What are your thoughts about this?