State, not federal, law describes and prescribes penalties for assault, rape, robbery, burglary, even homicide. States control all or much of what happens at local levels with respect to funds that make up the vast bulk of justice and other local civic expenditures, and they direct or enhance much of the local program content. By the 1990s, however, it was clear that if communities were to address the many causes of crime, they had to develop thoughtful, planned processes that blended government and grass roots, that brought in social services providers, youth workers, recreation and parks officials, child protection personnel, sanitation staffs, and juvenile justice practitioners as well as law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and probation and parole officers, each making specific, trackable crime prevention commitments. As more and more of these comprehensive local approaches bore fruit, some states set out to encourage such local action or at least to stimulate more comprehensive, coordinated activities in specific areas, most notably juvenile crime prevention. The question remains, however, as to whether this emphasis is driven by an institutionalized commitment to prevention or by personality and politics.
Local action is often heavily dependent on the state climate.
Too often, for example, local communities seek comprehensive solutions but find that funding is available only in categorical lumps that break up the comprehensive structure of local initiative. The challenge is to alter state policy and practice to optimize and make standard policies that support and encourage prevention of crime, especially in the framework of comprehensive locally tailored planning and action. NCPC has interviewed key leaders in several states who are working on or have expressed interest in putting greater emphasis on prevention in both policy and practice. The information thus gathered and NCPC's prior work in this field have been combined with the experience and expertise of others to design a retreat in Albuquerque, NM, in mid-March 2000. The retreat is the major concluding activity of the planning phase grant from the Packard Foundation.