New Research: Group TM/TM-Sidhi Practice on the Invincible America Assembly Significantly Reduces National Crime Rates
The Invincible America Assembly
A new study published in April 2016 confirms once again that large groups practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program can have a significant impact on levels of crime and violence in society.
The study was conducted by two Institute research scientists, Dr. Michael Dillbeck and Dr. Kenneth Cavanaugh. They found that when the Invincible America Assembly—America’s first and largest permanent group of peace-creating experts practicing the TM and TM-Sidhi program together—was sufficiently large, national homicide rates dropped by 21.2% and urban violent crime rates by 18.6% across a four-year intervention period.
The study compared a baseline period (2002–2006) with the intervention (2007–2010), when the size of the Assembly reached or exceeded 1,725, the predicted threshold needed at that time for a measurable impact on social trends throughout the U.S. The researchers estimated that over 8,000 lives had been saved from homicide during this intervention.
During 2007-2010 when the size of a group of advanced TM-Sidhi program participants exceeded the threshold predicted to reduce negative trends (√1%), there was a significant shift in the US national homicide rate and urban violent crime. Relative to the baseline period of 2002-2006, the drop in homicide rate was 21.2% (5.3% per year) and 18.5% (4.6% per year) for violent crime.
CREDIT: Maharishi International University
These research outcomes were announced on April 15 in a press release from EurekAlert!, a well-respected online science news service. The study itself was published by Sage Open and is the first of four such research projects conducted by Dr. Dillbeck and Dr. Cavanaugh.
Eighteen peer-reviewed articles have now been published validating the prediction by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, that a TM-Sidhi group of sufficient size would lead to reduced societal stress, as reflected in reduced crime, violence, accidents, and illness, and increased positive trends in society.
The Invincible America Assembly—America’s first and largest permanent group practicing the TM and TM-Sidhi program together—began in July 2006 with less than 700 participants and rose rapidly by January 2007 to exceed the required number of 1725 predicted to create measurable changes in social trends. (This number was the square root of one percent of the US population at that time.) The group remained above or near this threshold from 2007 through 2010. Since then, scientific research has repeatedly confirmed the striking long-term positive effects of this large coherence-creating group on national trends during this period. Earlier media coverage of these research findings, including very positive reports by Reuters and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has now reached hundreds of newspapers and journals around the world.
Institute director Dr. John Hagelin and the Institute staff continue to work every day to promote and uphold the Assembly, which is America’s first-ever scientific demonstration project to document the long-term positive effects of large group meditations on national trends. Dr. Hagelin has frequently commented that the profound coherence generated in national consciousness by the Assembly is the foundation for the Institute’s success in bringing these peace-creating programs to the public.