The Institute for Economics & Peace has recently issued a report on peace in the United States, the "United State Peace Index - 2011." The purpose of the peace index is to look back over a period of years to determine whether or not the U.S. is becoming more or less peaceful. The index defines peace as the absence of violence, so that it is really an index of violence rather than peace (peace being much more than just the absence of violence). The index reports an 8% improvement in peace, largely because of substantial drops in murder and other violent crimes. It states, however, that these gains were partially offset by a large increase in the nation's prison population. Even so, the nation is less violent today than it was twenty years ago.One of the report's most interesting and important findings is that, according to the Executive Summary,
“Peace is linked to opportunity, health, education and the economy. States that rank higher on these social and economic factors tend to have higher scores in peace - indicating that having access to basic services, having an education, being in good health and ultimately being given the opportunity to succeed, are linked to peace. Improving these factors would also create additional economic activity.” (p. 2)That is to say, states that offer the most opportunities to get ahead, which includes access to education and income, are the ones that are the most peaceful.
The index report also reveals that the U.S. does not measure up to the rest of the world a swell as one might think. It is slightly below the global average for national peacefulness. One important reason is our nations's huge prison population, which correlates with more, not less violence.
In sum, we are headed in the right direction as a nation when it comes to violence. If we can only get over the apparent need to fill our jails to overcrowding we will do even better. One worry, however, is that at the moment we seem bent on cutting social service and reducing the quality of education— two indicators of a peaceful society—so we can keep our taxes unreasonably low. Only time will tell whether we can continue to reduce national violence in spite of cuts in these areas in the years to come.
