Sentinel Watch September 12, 2011 Issue

Prayer that prevents crime in our cities

Dave Hohle

The local evening news recently reported the gang-related shooting deaths of two more children in my city, echoing an article in The Christian Science Monitor last month with this ominous title: “Chicago police use more deadly force as gang war heats up” (July 25). It’s not uncommon here for high-speed car chases to involve trading gunfire with police. There have already been 40 shootouts so far this year.

In thinking about this, I took interest in a report by Robert Wildeboer, a criminal and legal affairs reporter. Wildeboer discovered that the city of Toronto has about one seventh the number of murders of Chicago, even though the two cities are of equal size. He observed that a key difference is that the public in Toronto demands a crime-free society, and that this expectation filters through the neighborhoods, the news media, politicians, lawmakers, and law enforcement (“Under the gun: Murder in Chicago and Toronto,” Chicago Public Media).

To me, this observation suggests a striking possibility: that by refusing to accept erroneous behavior as legitimate, we can actually reduce it.

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