Crime and the fear of crime affect the quality of life for people all over the world. Experience has shown that the older methods of handling criminals are outmoded and are of limited deterrent and reformative value.

There is increasing need for the protection of citizens and for the creation of a better climate between protective agencies and members of the community.

Crime is now an international concern. The use of cooperative international efforts is necessary to advance knowledge, exchange experiences, promote research on prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders. To offset the effects of rapid urbanization, the violence of protest, the increasing escapism through the use of drugs and narcotics, and to counteract crimes of hijacking, kidnapping and the taking of hostages, international cooperation is imperative.

We, the American Ethical Union, therefore urges

1. Citizen participation in effecting changes in the methods of crime prevention, in the planning and use of penal institutions and in the current practices in the courts;

2. Our government to continue cooperation in international programs and agreements, as it has done in the U.N. Fund for Drug Control, and to support, the efforts of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the matter of airplane hijacking.

Such approaches will create a better quality of life locally, nationally and internationally.

Source: AEU 64th Annual Assembly Memo [job07scan]

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