DoPeace Minnesota Department of Peace Bill Highlights

The Urgent Need For A Department of Peace

Nuclear proliferation creates critical need for the interruption of current cycles of violence
Nuclear arsenals -- those both friendly and hostile to the United States -- are susceptible to terrorist attack or theft

Domestic violence
Criminal and domestic violence places intense financial pressure on city, county, and state government budgets
- Example: 80% of all police runs in the City of Detroit are in response to domestic violence

Addressing Casual Needs

Current policy-making tends toward reactive, not proactive approaches to violence reduction
Traditional political problem-solving focuses primarily on addressing symptoms of violence, such as imprisonment of offenders and engagement in armed conflict
Suppression of symptoms should be augmented by stronger preventative measures and treatment of root causes of violence
The United States should be as effective in addressing the sources of violence as we are effective in addressing its symptoms

We Need A Department of Peace...

To reduce domestic and international violence
To gather and coordinate information and recommendations from America’s peace community
To teach violence prevention and mediation to America’s school children
To effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology
To rehabilitate the prison population
To build peace-making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad
To support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence

Proposed Federal Legislation to Create a U.S. Department of Peace

Bill was introduced into the U. S. House of Representatives during the 107th and 108th Congress
Bill was reintroduced into the House of Representatives (H.R. 3760) and introduced for the first time into the U.S. Senate (S. 1756) during the current session, the 109th Congress, in September, 2005
There are currently 75 committed co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate.
Proposed legislation calls for the Department’s budget to be the equivalent of 2% of U.S. defense budget

The Benefits: International

The Department of Peace will:

Advise the President, the Secretaries of Defense and State, and others on root causes of violence, plus practical ways to dismantle violence while still in a formative phase
Support the military by:
- Providing cultural, ethnic and psychologically insightful information, education and technology
- Offering practical skills (conflict resolution techniques, and the like) for the amelioration of violence among adversarial factions
- Administer the training and support of civilian peacekeepers to participate in multinational nonviolent peace forces

The Benefits: Domestic

The Department of Peace will:

Develop field-tested educational programs promoting conflict-resolution and peer mediation among school-age children
Provide violence-prevention programs addressing domestic violence, gang violence, drug and alcohol-related violence, and the like
Provide much-needed assistance for the efforts of city, county, and state governments in coordinating existing programs in their own communities, as well as programs newly developed and provided by the Department of Peace

Responsibilities of the Secretary of Peace

Provide the President with statistically-verified recommendations on how a specific policy either increases or diminishes the prospect of domestic and international peace.
Provide the President with recommendations regarding the social and financial impact of domestic and international policies

A U.S. Peace Academy

The Department of Peace will create and administer a U.S. Peace Academy, acting as a sister organization to the U.S. Military Academy
The Academy will research and teach the most cutting-edge techniques for the amelioration of violence among domestic and international populations
The Peace Academy will join the Military Academy in providing assistance to the military in international conflict-resolution
The Peace Academy faculty will be derived from well-established practitioners known for best practices in the field of conflict reduction and resolution

Growing Support

75 U.S. Representatives are Co-sponsors of the Dept. of Peace Legislation and two Senators.
Grassroots Efforts Support the Department of Peace Legislation
DOP activist groups exist in all 50 states and over 280 Congressional Districts!

Major Organizations Endorse U.S. Department of Peace