An Ounce of Prevention

Addressing Crime Before It Happens

With Rabbi Ari Sollish

(Recorded live at the Intown Jewish Academy on April 2, 2019)

The best way to improve the criminal justice system is by keeping people out of it. But before any attempt to prevent crime can be made, its causes and preconditions must be better understood. Judaism has long recognized the role of societal factors in the commission of crime: poverty and unemployment are significant, as are education, values, and personal character. This final lesson discusses the roots of criminality, several specific preventative policy proposals, and the various concerns associated with them.