Report on success of Enlightened Sentencing Project
Agence France Presse
12 November 2001
Subject: Worldwide wire service release by Agence France Presse reports on
the successful use of Maharihshi's Transcendental Meditation programme to
rehabilitate criminal offenders in Missouri, USA. This initiative is part of
The Enlightened Sentencing Project organised by Farrokh and Ruffina
Anklesaria. See also http://www.enlightenedsentencing.org
Agence France Presse
November 5, 2001 Monday 7:35 AM Eastern Time
SECTION: Domestic, non-Washington, General News
LENGTH: 612 words
HEADLINE: ENLIGHTENED SENTENCING: DEEP BREATHING FOR SMALL-TIME CONS
BYLINE: LOUISE DALY
DATELINE: VEDIC CITY, Iowa, Nov 5
When US circuit judge David Mason was first approached about using
transcendental meditation T to rehabilitate offenders, he scoffed at the
idea.
But five years later Mason is a roving ambassador for what some have called
the enlightened sentencing project, extolling the benefits of TM as far
afield as Australia.
At a conference here last weekend, Mason described how TM could help keep
petty criminals on the straight and narrow, giving them the skills to deal
with the everyday stress that might otherwise spark criminal tendencies.
It's really important to get a grasp of the relationship between stress and
criminal behaviour, he said, noting expert testimony of psychologists
pointed repeatedly to stress as a trigger for criminal behaviour.
The alcohol and drug addictions that often go hand in hand with crime often
stem from weak coping abilities, he told the conference hosted by the
Maharishi University of Management (MUM) -- the nexus of the TM community in
this southeastern corner of Iowa.
Frustrated by seeing the same faces parade through his courtroom, Mason
reckoned he would not be drastically changing his probationary regime with
the addition of transcendental meditation.
After developing a curriculum that passed constitutional muster, he began
what was essentially a privately-funded experiment in 1996, with petty
criminals taking a six-week course of TM sessions as a condition of their
probation.
Encouraged by Mason's results, three other judges on the 22nd Circuit Court
embarked on the experiment, all of whom have been pleasantly surprised by
the results.
An informal study showed recidivism among the 120 offenders was markedly
lower than might be expected-just 10 percent committed crimes within three
years, compared to the state average of 50 percent.
I was confident there would be some benefits, but I was surprised at the
degree of success, among individuals who have spent their lives using
drugs, selling drugs, prostituting themselves to get money to buy drugs,
stealing to get money to buy drugs, Mason said.
One woman was so impressed by the change in one of her son's friends that
she made her own son turn himself into the law.
The woman brought her son to the police station and made him confess to
some minor drug possession charges on the understanding he would come up
before me, just so he could get in the program, Mason said.
And while the judge was preaching to the converted Saturday at the MUM
conference, aimed to promote TM as a way for US schools to tackle school
violence, the establishment has begun to take note.
Just last month, Mason, his colleagues on the bench and some program
graduates were asked to share their experiences with a panel of state
lawmakers seeking alternatives to incarceration.
I was impressed by the presentation, said Esther Haywood, vice chair of a
Missouri House of Representatives committee on alternative sentencing.
To be honest, I would like to try it for myself.
The jury is still out, according to Haywood, but with more information the
panel could recommend the relaxation technique for first-time offenders to
keep them out of Missouri's overcrowded prison system.
Mason hopes official interest, currently funded by grants from charitable
foundations, could mean public funding for the two full-time TM
practitioners devoted to the program.
I am pushing for it to be used in all domestic violence cases, said
Mason-in no small part because of the letters he has received from women
reporting their partners were less angry and less physically and verbally
abusive after taking the meditation course.
Copyright 2001 Agence France Presse