Question: What are you views on the issue of domestic violence and how do you think the government can work to prevent violence against women?
Submitted from Felicia of Boca Raton, Florida through iVillage.com (10/13/00)
Answer from John Hagelin:
Natural Solutions To A Dangerous Trend
Unless we recognize and target the underlying physiological roots of violence, the problem is certain to continue.
The most careful and comprehensive studies of domestic violence attribute this dangerous sociopathic trend to mounting stress levels throughout society. Historically high levels of stress, born of socioeconomic and environmental factors, correlate with crime, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and other forms of shortsighted and destructive behaviors. Chronic stress leads to an out-of-balance physiology characterized by elevated cortisol, suppressed seritonin, low EEG coherence, and acute brain metabolic dysfunction. These symptoms, in turn, give rise to aggressive, impulsive, and violent behavior.
Hence, domestic violence, like other crimes of passion, is not a rational act, and threat of punishment alone does not offer an effective deterrent. Unless we recognize and target these underlying physiological roots of violence, the problem is certain to continue.
I am unique among presidential candidates in having studied this issue deeply. I am also unique in proposing initiatives that effectively target the sociological and physiological roots of violence by reducing high levels of individual and societal stress. Therefore, in addition to strict enforcement of domestic violence legislation, I would support
effective stress management techniques to diffuse accumulated stress. These would be disseminated through Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration hospitals, and community health and prevention clinics
drug and alcohol rehabilition. Since much domestic violence occurs under the destabilizing influence of alcohol and drugs, I would place greater emphasis on effective substance abuse education and rehabilitation
educational, vocational, and job training programs to improve economic opportunities for the financially disadvantaged
revitalization of inner cities through rebuilding urban infrastructures and promoting community planning that includes ample parks and green spaces and the construction of homes and buildings that are human friendly, nontoxic, and in harmony with natural law
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