Restoring Social Justice

Welfare Reform

The welfare reform of 1996 was one of the most successful social policy reforms in American history. It transformed a system that rewarded idleness and encouraged dependency on government into one that helps welfare recipients move toward self-sufficiency through work. Drawing on strategies tested in the state of Wisconsin, the federal law had significant results: a decade following, one and a half million fewer children lived in poverty and black child poverty had reached its lowest level in US history. The rapid growth in the rate of unwed childbearing dramatically slowed.Welfare caseloads declined by 57 percent – after rising steadily for decades. Welfare reform worked because it identified behavioral patterns, rather than material poverty, as the source of chronic dependence on government services.  Child poverty is associated with a lack of parental work and the absence of marriage and fathers. America’s welfare reform has attracted attention in other countries, including the Netherlands and Germany.

School Choice

Education is essential to upward mobility, and every child should have the freedom to attend a safe and effective school. Policies that assign a student to a government-run school in their neighborhood too often consign low-income and minority students to an environment of low academic expectations, frequent violence, and high dropout rates. Policies that advance school choice through charter schools, vouchers, tax credits, and other options are changing the life trajectory of many low-income and minority children. Researchers have found that school choice increases academic achievement, student safety, and parental involvement. School-choice policies have a positive impact on school systems by increasing efficiency and effectiveness through competition.

Innovative Policing

A broken window left unrepaired communicates that no one cares, observed George Kelling and James Q. Wilson in a 1982 Atlantic Monthly article. Similarly, minor offenses unaddressed make major ones more likely. During the 1990s New York City police commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Rudy Giuliani reoriented policing strategy and administration to focus on communities. By cracking down on minor offenses like graffiti or vandalism, their plan focused on restoring order, rebuilding community, and preventing serious crime. A dramatic reduction in serious crime resulted. While the 1990s saw a reduction in crime nationwide, New York dramatically outpaced the rest of the United States; violent crime fell by twice the nationwide rate. In all, “broken windows” policing helped prevent an estimated 60,000 violent crimes during the decade following its implementation, according to a study by the Manhattan Institute.

Another promising strategy is problem-oriented policing, in which police develop a systematic process for identifying the nature of problems and then design specific tactics to address them. Studies have found that problem-oriented policing has led to crime reductions in Boston, Massachusetts and Jersey City, New Jersey.

Prisoner Reentry

Each year, more than 700,000 inmates are released from State and Federal prisons. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, two out of three of these released inmates will be rearrested within 3 years and more than half will be reincarcerated. But life-changing interventions are helping many alter the course of their lives. Support, supervision, and employment opportunity are critical to successful reentry. And faith-based service providers like Metro United Methodist Urban Ministry have had impressive results with those they serve.

Youth Violence Prevention

Young people long to belong, and if they don’t find it in the arms of loving family and community, they will look elsewhere to get the love they yearn for, sometimes even among company engaged in violent, self-destructive activities. But successful interventions that restore pro-social relationships are preventing youth from turning to a life of violence. Their strategies help to rebuild community fibers where they have frayed, to offer opportunity for the future and support to make those possibilities within reach.