wfn.org | Manchester College researchers issue Index of Violence and Harm

[COBNews@aol.com]

Date: Jan. 5, 2006
Contact: Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
V:  847/742-5100 F: 847/742-6103
E-MAIL: _CoBNews@AOL.Com_ (mailto:CoBNews@AOL.Com) 
 
MANCHESTER COLLEGE RESEARCHERS REPORT DECLINE IN VIOLENCE BUT `ALARMING'  
TRENDS FOR MOST VULNERABLE IN NATION
 
Jan. 5, 2006 (Elgin, IL) --  While violence statistically is on the  decline 
in the United States, the nation is setting an alarming trend in how it  
treats the most  vulnerable--the hungry, homeless, and uninsured families. 
That's 
the report from researchers at Manchester College in their latest  National 
Index of Violence and Harm. Manchester is a Church of the Brethren  liberal
arts 
college located in North Manchester, Ind.
 
Even before the Gulf Coast devastation of Hurricane Katrina, emergency food  
requests had increased 14.4 percent in just one year--from 2003 to 2004--with
 
38.2 million people or 13.2 percent of the population living in households  
experiencing "food insecurity," according to the study. 
 
Several other statistically significant trends emerged in the study of US  
Census data by three faculty members and a student at Manchester. The team  
examined 1995-2004 poverty and income levels for several groups in the US  
population. In 2004, more than 81 percent of US major cities turned people
away  from 
overwhelmed shelters, while families with children comprised 35-40 percent  
of the US homeless population. In that same year, 45.8 million people were  
without health insurance. 
 
Nevertheless, the latest National Index of Harm and Violence shows positive  
trends in 14 of the 19 variables measured over the nine-year study period.
The 
 index is divided into two broad categories of violence/harm. The Personal 
Index  includes, for example, homicide, suicide, and drug deaths. The
Societal 
Index  includes, for example, police abuse, corporate pollution, and child 
abuse. It  also includes harm resulting from the structuring of society, such
as 
poverty  and discrimination.
 
Street crime declined sharply, the index shows, helping to fuel an overall  
14 percent drop in the Personal Index since 1995. The Societal Index also  
dropped, although it did include an increase in the government category  
(correctional system and law enforcement).  
 
"As opposed to the more familiar and dramatic personal harm, such as  
homicide, societal harm is just as destructive and is far more pervasive in
our  
society," noted sociology and social work professor Bradley L. Yoder, one of
the  
researchers. "Many more people are adversely affected by structural and  
institutional forces."
 
The clearest example of worsening societal harm is social negligence, which  
continues to climb. Although the high school dropout rate fell significantly 
in  2002 to 3.4 percent, after hovering near 4.5 percent for six years, in
2003 
it  bounced up to 3.8 percent.
 
Other social negligence indicators continued to rise in 2003, some  
dramatically: lack of health insurance--from 15.2 to 15.6 percent of the 
population, 
with 45 million uninsured in 2003; hunger--more than 12.5 million  households

experienced food insecurity up from 12.1 million in 2002, according  to the
US 
Department of Agriculture; homelessness--in 2003 an average increase  of 7 
percent in requests for emergency housing across major metropolitan  areas.
 
The Manchester College research team is led by psychology professor Neil J.  
Wollman, and also includes James Brumbaugh-Smith, associate professor of  
mathematics and computer science, and sophomore Jonathan Largent of Muncie,
Ind.  
The faculty members have been compiling the Index since 1995.
 
The Manchester College research is unique in considering the homelessness  
and dropout rates together, said Wollman, senior fellow of the Manchester  
College Peace Studies Institute and professor of psychology. "By examining
them  
together, we can see whether our society responds adequately to the needs of
its 
 citizens, particularly those who are most vulnerable," he said. "Given the 
basic  nature of these long unfulfilled needs--and the fact that all other  
industrialized countries do provide in these areas--we may need to look more 

closely at ourselves and our self-image of being a compassionate people."
 
For example, non-whites were still 2.7 times more likely to be in poverty  in

2003. And, while the gap in poverty disparity declined strongly for gender,  
race, and age, class differences continued to climb. The disparity for 2003 
was  the greatest on record.
 
To learn more about the National Index of Harm and Violence and to contact  
the researchers, visit _www.manchester.edu/links/violenceindex_ 
(http://www.manchester.edu/links/violenceindex) .  Manchester College is home
to the nation's 
first undergraduate peace studies  program and the Graduation Pledge 
Alliance. To learn more about Manchester visit	_www.manchester.edu_ 
(http://www.manchester.edu) .
 
The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to  
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith  in 
community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith  
traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrates its
 300th 
anniversary in 2008. It counts about 130,000 members across the United	
States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Brazil, the  
Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nigeria.
 
# # #
 
For more information contact:
 
Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford
Director of News Services
Church of the  Brethren General Board
1451 Dundee Ave.
Elgin, IL 60120
847-742-5100  ext. 260
_cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org_ 
(mailto:cbrumbaugh-cayford_gb@brethren.org) 
 
*****************************************************************
The  Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford,

 director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board. 
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