Increased Positivity, Decreased Crime The results show that 24 cities in which 1% of the population had been instructed in the Transcendental Meditation program by 1972 displayed decreased crime rates during the next year (1973) and decreased crime rate trends during subsequent years (1972–1977) in comparison to 1967–1972, in contrast to control cities matched for geographic region, population, college population, and crime rate. The Transcendental Meditation program and crime rate change in a sample of forty-eight cities, Journal of Crime and Justice 4: 25–45, 1981.