NCJ Number
203236
Editor(s)
Charles N. Alexander,
Kenneth G. Walton,
David W. Orme-Johnson,
Rachel S. Goodman,
Nathaniel J. Pallone
Date Published
2003
Length
395 pages
Annotation
This book discusses Transcendental Meditation (TM) as a valid and cost effective approach to solving the crime problem.
Abstract
TM addresses the epidemic of stress and describes solutions based on restoration of natural law in the life of the individual and society. The theory is that the collective consciousness of a community and its level of stress are held to influence each individual in the community. Crime, terrorism, and outbreaks of national and international conflict are seen as the result of collective stress and strain. The TM technique and the other Consciousness-Based approaches of Maharishi Vedic Science provide effortless technologies to experience the inner self, the home of all the laws of nature. Repeated experience of this self infuses its silent orderliness into all aspects of individual life and society. The programs presented in this collection offer an effective complement to conventional treatment approaches for crime prevention and rehabilitation. This prevention-oriented approach focuses on scientifically proven technologies that actually work. The cost of this approach is negligible in comparison to the cost of a typical cycle of crime, incarceration, and recidivism. The introduction and overview document the effects of the TM technique and the significance for rehabilitation of offenders. A pioneering community-based program for probationers is described, along with the wide-ranging benefits of the TM program experienced by over 100 probationers that had committed offenses ranging from drunk driving to manslaughter. Section 1 includes a comprehensive summary of 39 studies, describing risk factors associated with the likelihood of criminal behavior and substance misuse and summarizing research indicating how the TM program successfully addresses many of these factors. Section 2 contains six empirical papers describing studies on TM in four prison systems. Section 3 brings together work addressing societal issues in crime prevention. Implementation strategies presented include an education program to eliminate school violence, a national-level project to decrease crime, and an international program to prevent terrorism and international conflict. Theory, research, and program development converge in section 4, which provides a macroscopic view of the role of the TM program in criminal rehabilitation. References, index