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Stopping Gun Violence, One Youth at a Time

Julie Reynolds Martinez

September 09, 2021 |

The Imprint |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Salinas, California

For more than 10 years, a pair of programs helped make major reductions in youth violence in Monterey County and the Salinas Valley by targeting the small number of people at highest risk of committing violence. That targeting led to a combination of law enforcement threats and social services help in the county's Group Violence Intervention program. When the money and enthusiasm for that dwindled, the strategy shifted to more carrot than stick, using the Advance Peace model of providing services to youth to put their lives on firmer footing.

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Why a Swedish city with a violent crime problem looked to US for solutions

Erika Page

September 08, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Sweden, Malmö

Malmö's Sluta Skjut (Stop Shooting) program adopts a group violence intervention approach that has been used widely in the U.S. Gang members and others believed to be involved in street violence are summoned to "call-ins" to hear messages from law enforcement officials, community members, and social services providers. The overarching message: stop the violence, or go to prison; if you do stop, help is available to change your life. About 300 men have been called in, 49 of whom have accepted the offered help. Violence in the city has dropped since the program started.

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As homicides surged, Oakland's premier anti-violence program went quiet

Rachel Swan

September 07, 2021 |

San Francisco Chronicle |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Oakland Ceasefire's "delicate architecture" balancing law enforcement and community-based responses to gun violence, which seemed to have helped lower the city's gun violence by half since 2012, came crashing down during the pandemic. While arrests continued, the alternative offered to people at high risk of violence – an array of services to turn their lives around – withered with a virtual ban on in-person meetings. Violence in the city surged as years of progress unraveled. The program is working to rebuild, while questioning if it should distance itself more from the police.

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University degree awarded to student behind bars: his thesis on autoethnography is a survival story

Francesco Ciampa

September 07, 2021 |

News48 |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Italy, Catanzaro, Calabria

Magna Graecia University partnered with prison administrators in Catanzaro, Italy, to help two incarcerated men find a form of rehabilitation by writing their own lives' stories. In a process called autoethnography, the men, who are serving life sentences, focus on describing without moral judgment "the psychological and creative resources they used for survival before prison and during their time behind bars." This helps them see the traits that led them into crime might also lead them out of it. Both men tell of extraordinary personal growth through the experience, which others now seek to duplicate.

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King County's rise in gun violence doesn't have an easy explanation

Nate Sanford

September 01, 2021 |

Crosscut |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Community Passageways does the kind of violence intervention work that the city of Seattle plans to invest in to expand its reach. Peer mentors reach out to young men at highest risk of suffering or committing violence. They mediate disputes and counsel the men on finding work and staying clear of criminal trouble. While this group has made progress in connecting people to jobs and other help, its effects on Seattle's recent surge in gun violence are unknown. Similar programs elsewhere, focusing on the same sets of conditions that cause much community violence, have been shown to be effective.

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Dealing with mental health crisis one Zoom call at a time

Don Babwin

August 29, 2021 |

Associated Press |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

In Chicago, where the city's size and traffic would pose logistical and cost barriers to make mental health professionals first responders to mental-crisis calls, the Cook County sheriff's office has put 70 Zoom-enabled tablets in deputies' hands to set up on-the-spot counseling sessions with people in crisis. Instead of being confronted by a cop, people threatening suicide or harming others can talk to one of eight counselors on call. It's the first step toward getting the care they need, instead of an arrest and violent clash with police officers.

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A push to change Colorado's prison culture and perceptions — one art piece at a time

Moe Clark

August 23, 2021 |

Colorado Newsline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

The Prison Arts Initiative program, jointly run by the Colorado prison system and University of Denver, puts personal expression through visual and performing arts at the heart of the prisons' mission to become less punitive and more rehabilitative. With exhibits like "Chained Voices," featuring paintings by incarcerated people, the program aims to give hope to people by making them feel seen and valued as fully human. Formerly incarcerated artists say they valued not only the personal growth they experienced, but also the knowledge that their art could change public perceptions of the people in prison.

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How Ex-Miners Turn Toxic Land into Lavender Farms

Emily Harger

August 18, 2021 |

Business Insider |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, West Virginia

Appalachian Botanical Company, or ABCo, owns a lavender farm that rests on a retired coal mine. The farm aims to restore the land and soil by growing lavender. Coal companies are legally obliged to restore the land they have mined, known as reclamation. ABCo is part of the reclamation. However, they also want to restore the community, it employs former coal miners and recovering addicts to harvest, pick, distill, and package the flowers. The farm grew two-fold since its inception.

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Some 'Most Impressive' Law School Applicants Are Convicted of Serious Crimes

Allen Arthur

August 18, 2021 |

Route Fifty |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Starting in 2017, California has grown more open to licensing formerly incarcerated people to work as lawyers. State licensing authorities set high barriers to entry to the legal profession in their "moral fitness" license requirements. Vague rules can effectively rule out anyone with a serious criminal record. By clarifying its standards and making the process more transparent, the State Bar – aided by efforts to train licensing officials and by the California System-Involved Bar Association to educate prospective lawyers to pass the test – the system has evolved into a model for state-led change.

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Since when is being a teenager a crime?

Eda Uzunlar

August 07, 2021 |

Reveal |

Illustrations |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Wyoming

Neighboring states of Wyoming and South Dakota take starkly different approaches toward youth who get in trouble. Side-by-side comic panels follow two real cases through each system. A South Dakota teen gets help that steers her off a destructive path. A Wyoming teen gets punished, and ends up in a downward spiral of more trouble and more punishment. Both states once had relatively high youth incarceration rates. Now only one of them, Wyoming, does: the second-worst in the U.S., and three times the national average.

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