C'est la référence Canadienne en alimentation. Sylvain Charlebois est économiste, professeur, conférencier et podcasteur. Mettons que quand il parle, on l'écoute! Dans ce Balado, on jase de l'inflation en alimentation, des consommateurs qui sont devenus meilleurs acheteurs et du Québec qui gère mieux que les autres provinces son autonomie alimentaire.
[00:00:01] Welcome to Words to Live By, a podcast series hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. Each week we will share some of the wit and wisdom of Ronald Reagan.
[00:00:12] In essence, Words to Live By made up of radio addresses and speeches he delivered from the 1960s through the 1980s. Today we're going to listen to a radio address delivered 40 years ago on the subject of law enforcement and crime.
[00:00:29] Certainly, a hot topic in our major cities where cutbacks in law enforcement and weak sentencing are suspected causes of an increased crime rate. So take a guess. What state has the lowest violent crime rate? That would be New Hampshire. And the highest? This will surprise you.
[00:00:51] In the United States, New Mexico is the most dangerous state with a higher rate of violent crimes per capita than any other location. Arkansas is a close second with California coming in as the fifth most dangerous state in the Union.
[00:01:08] So anyway, let's hear from Ronald Reagan on crime beginning with his thoughts in 1984 and then closing in the second half of the podcast. He'll deliver a very direct radio broadcast that he wrote himself in 1976. First, let's listen to our president in 1984.
[00:01:28] My fellow Americans, I'd like to talk with you today about a subject that's been a priority since this administration's first day in office. Fighting crime in America. When we came to office, crime was taking the lives of over 23,000 Americans a year.
[00:01:42] It touched a third of American homes and resulted in about $10 billion a year in financial losses. Yet, just as America has regained her economic strength and international prestige in the last few years,
[00:01:54] so too the crime problem in America has shown improvement for the first time in many years. In recent speeches in Hartford, Connecticut and San Antonio, Texas, I've pointed out that the 7% decrease in crime reported for last year is the sharpest decrease in the history of the crime statistics.
[00:02:12] And it marks the first time the serious crime index has shown a decline two years in a row. Of course, we still have a long way to go.
[00:02:20] But this statistic does demonstrate that our efforts and those of state and local governments are finally having an impact on crime. At the state level, for example, numerous legislatures have passed tough new sentencing laws. And here at the federal level, we've taken several critically important steps.
[00:02:38] First, from our first day in office, the Attorney General and I have emphasized the importance of appointing to the federal bench, including the Supreme Court, judges determined to uphold the rights of society and the innocent victims, as well as the rights of the accused.
[00:02:53] Second, we've launched an all-out assault on the illicit drug trade, that fever swamp of career criminals in America. Taking our cue from the success of our South Florida task force, we've brought aboard more than 1,200 new investigators and prosecutors
[00:03:09] and established 12 regional task forces throughout the United States to crack down on the big money drug traffickers. The results of that effort have been encouraging. The drug task forces have initiated 620 cases. They've indicted more than 2,600 individuals.
[00:03:26] And 143 of these indictments have been under the Drug Kingpin Law, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Third, we've launched a full-scale offensive on the home ground of career criminals, organized crime itself.
[00:03:43] Organized crime arrests have nearly tripled, and confiscation of their assets is also sharply up. Our new commission on organized crime has brought much-needed public attention to this problem, and as soon as it receives subpoena power, it will do even more.
[00:03:58] Believe me, we in the administration have been trying to speak up for you, the millions of Americans who are fed up with crime, fed up with fear in our streets and neighborhoods, fed up with lenient judges,
[00:04:10] fed up with a criminal justice system that too often treats criminals better than it does their victims. Too many Americans have had to suffer the effects of crime while too many of our leaders have stuck to the old discredited liberal illusions about crime,
[00:04:24] illusions that refuse to hold criminals responsible for their actions. For example, I wonder how many of you know that the major part of our legislative initiative against crime remains right where it's remained for the last three years, dead in the water in the House of Representatives.
[00:04:41] Now, our crime package includes bills calling for bail reform, tougher sentencing, justice assistance to states and localities, improvement in the exclusionary rule and the insanity defense, and major reforms affecting drug trafficking, prison crowding, capital punishment and forfeiture. All of these reforms are badly needed and constitutionally sound.
[00:05:02] In fact, our core crime package has already passed the Senate once by a vote of 91 to 1, but in the House of Representatives, the liberal leadership keeps it bottled up in committee. I told a group of Texas lawyers yesterday we're not about to quit on our crime bill.
[00:05:18] We're going to do what we've done in the past. We're going out to the heartland and we're taking our case to you, the people. And so I'm asking for your help today. Please send a message to the House leadership.
[00:05:32] Tell them to stop kowtowing to the special interests and start listening to you, the American people. Americans want this anti-crime legislation and they want it now. And if those of you listening will lend a hand, we can get it now.
[00:05:45] Please tell your elected representatives you expect full and fair representation and that means getting this bill out of committee and on to the floor of the House for a vote. We've made real progress against crime in the last few years. Together we can keep up the good work.
[00:06:02] Until next week, thanks for listening. God bless you. We must remain vigilant and work together to share these conservative principles with younger generations. Your role is critical to move our mission forward. Thank you for your continued support. Please visit ReganFoundation.org. That's Regan Foundation's National Pride.
[00:06:45] We're going to be talking about the future of the United States. That's ReganFoundation.org That's ReganFoundation.org Now, back to the story. Back in 1976, Governor Reagan, though out of office, delivered a poignant radio address on crime. Using data, he relates stiff prison sentences and fair punishment
[00:07:12] as the most effective antidote to crime. Let's listen. The sociological theory, which may be just a sociological fairy tale is, quote, poverty causes crime, unquote. I'll be right back. A short time ago, I talked about crime on this program and suggested there might be a simpler answer
[00:07:31] than some of the sociological theorizing we've been hearing for so long. Well, now I have company. A number of top scholars from the halls of academia have been working on this problem with some astonishing results. They are Professor Paul Ehrlich at the University of Chicago,
[00:07:46] Professor James Q. Wilson of Harvard, and Professor Gordon Tullick of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. In my opinion, they laid a rest once and for all, the theory that poverty causes crime. I myself have remarked many times that we had possibly the lowest crime rate in our history
[00:08:02] at a time when poverty was most widespread during the years of the Great Depression. But now these scholarly gentlemen have put it in a test tube and come forth with fact and figure. In the 15 years from 1950 to 1975, we reduced the number of people living below the poverty line
[00:08:19] by more than half. It was the greatest decline in poverty in our history. In that same period, violent crime increased two and a half times and property crimes by two and a quarter. Put in percentages, poverty dropped by 55%, crime increased by 160% and 124%.
[00:08:40] In their research, the professors went beyond base figures and found substantiation by seeking out high crime areas and poverty pockets. For example, the 15 lowest crime rate states in the nation are all below median income level. The most impoverished ethnic communities are among the lowest in crime rate.
[00:08:58] By contrast, several of the highest crime rate cities are rich communities with very small poverty areas. Thank heaven they didn't stop with finding out what doesn't cause crime. They carried their research into what does cause it. And the answer is indeed rather simple.
[00:09:13] The main increase in crime is proportionate to the decrease in punishment. Those states which have the best law enforcement, the highest percentage of convictions and the longest prison sentences have the lowest crime rate. And generally in recent years,
[00:09:29] a permissive philosophy has led to a reduced penalty for crime. The conviction rate for burglary in our land is less than half of what it was in 1960. For murder, it's 30% less. Nationwide in the 10 years between 1960 and 1970, we had a 139% increase in crime, but our prison population went down 8%.
[00:09:49] In other words, an offender's chance of going to prison was about twice as great in 1960 as it was in 1970. To wrap up their research, inquiries were made in Canada and England where it was confirmed that punishment does reduce crime. There is reason to hope.
[00:10:08] In some of our cities, including New York, special teams of police and prosecutors are zeroing in on repeaters, bringing them to quick trial and going after stiff sentences. No plea bargaining. The word is, it's paying off. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. Thank you for listening.
[00:10:27] For more information on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, including information on how to become a member, information on upcoming exhibits at the Reagan Library, and more information on the legacy of President Reagan, please visit raganfoundation.org. And don't forget to like and follow the Reagan Foundation
[00:10:47] on all social media platforms. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and on YouTube. Also, search for us on SoundCloud and Stitcher. And don't forget to like and follow us on Facebook and on YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe to our channel
[00:11:27] for more information on the future of the Reagan Library. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and on YouTube. And don't forget to like and follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.