Classes in conflict resolution, educational and recreational opportunities, drug treatment, counseling, job training, improved street lighting, and many other techniques can reduce violence in a community. The development of such programs is limited only by a jurisdiction's creativity and financial commitment. This score measures how many anti-violence initiatives a state supports relative to its level of violence. We make no effort to measure the efficacy of different initiatives, preferring instead to let states experiment with a wide variety of techniques. This score rewards states that support an abundance of anti-violence initiatives.
Financing is limited.
Money spent on prisons is money not spent on schools, libraries or parks. This score measures how a state's priorities affect its residents' hopes for the future. Most importantly, it measures whether the next generation has the tools to succeed. This score combines two different measures, weighted equally. The first measure is the percentage of teens who dropped out of high school.