In May (2022), Veteran Navy SEAL Jimmy Graham delivered a one-word answer when asked to reveal the most powerful preventative deterrent to violent mass shootings:  “Jesus”. I agree with Jimmy – the lack of a desire on the part of mankind to model their lives after, and follow Jesus as Lord of our lives leaves us with no good example to follow. There is no suitable replacement. Without Jesus, it’s garbage in, garbage out.

In 2004, Steven D. Levitt published an article titled “Understanding Why Crime Fell in the1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not“. 

Here are two graphs Steven presented:

The question is, what drove the decline? Keep in mind that there may be multiple causes (x’s). Steven gave one possible cause for the drop: the justice of punishment (eg. incarceration) for crime.

But what could motivate people to not WANT to commit crime? For a follower of Christ, their love of God can be more powerful than the temptation to do evil.

I think that a strong justice system and a strong following of Jesus are the biggest solutions to crime.