by Charles W. Colson

About the author: Charles W. Colson is the founder of Prison Fellowship, a religious ministry for prison inmates.

As the House and Senate prepare to vote on the final version of the $33 billion crime bill [the 1994 Omnibus Crime Act], the nation’s attention is rightly riveted on a crime crisis that has grown to alarming proportions. Yet in today’s frenzy to fight crime, no one consults the real experts: the criminals themselves.

Criminals Reveal How to Prevent Crime

Prison Fellowship, an organization I helped found after serving time for Watergate-related offenses, decided to do just that. In our newspaper, Inside Journal distributed free to prisoners nationwide, we invited inmates to write to us, answering the question, “What could have stopped you from breaking the law"”

Nearly 600 prisoners responded...