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Learning when to be hands-off

Jodi Hausen

September 30, 2021 |

Boulder Weekly |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Boulder County, Colorado

Although several Colorado law enforcement agencies have trained officers on how to de-escalate interactions with people in a crisis, including people with disabilities, the state in 2022 will become the latest to mandate such training for all law enforcement officers. The training is backed by a study that suggests it helps police better recognize and understand the reactions that people with disabilities might have under stress in a confrontation with police. Trained officers in Boulder last year successfully ended one potentially violent incident without serious inury.

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Paris shows how to make public housing greener and more habitable at the same time

Colin Kinniburgh

September 29, 2021 |

Grist |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: France, Paris

Old and neglected housing contributes to climate change because it runs on fossil fuels. In New York, outdated heating systems waste two-thirds of energy. The New York City Housing Authority is not only trying to create better, safer, more livable affordable housing, but also cleaner and more sustainable housing. While the city is just beginning to explore how to do that, other cities, like Paris, have already begun the work of updating old buildings that are used for affordable housing and can offer a model for American cities.

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In Arizona, a radical change in juvenile detention

Ruxandra Guidi

September 20, 2021 |

High Country News |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. Johns, Arizona

Unrealistic fears of a wave of youth violence left rural Apache County, Colorado, with an unused, costly youth detention facility. So the local courts decided to refashion the empty jail into the Loft Legacy Teen Center, an after-school hangout offering a "care-first" approach to teen problems. Mentors and a truancy prevention program help youth avoid trouble and get educations. Youth arrests have dropped, though that might also be credited to the state's risk-assessment tool that is meant to guard against overuse of punishment.

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Where Juvenile Detention Looks More Like Teens Hanging Out

Ruxandra Guidi

September 13, 2021 |

70 Million |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, St. Johns, Arizona

Apache County, Arizona, once had a costly, under-used juvenile detention center and a traditional philosophy that stern punishment would steer young people away from misbehavior. Now the abandoned detention center is The Loft Legacy Teen Center, an after-school hangout with mentors, connections to social services, and a place where youth can go to socialize – a rare commodity in this rural community. It's run and staffed by the court system and its probation department. But its methods are love and support, not threats of arrest and incarceration. Juvenile arrests are now way down.

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Eagle County problem-solving courts offer new hope to repeat offenders battling substance abuse

Kelli Duncan

September 09, 2021 |

Vail Daily |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Eagle, Colorado

Eagle County's two problem-solving courts put treatment ahead of punishment when addressing crimes committed by people with substance abuse problems. Originally set up as one court, they now function separately to address drunken driving and drugs and serve people "teetering on the edge of serious prison time" for repeat offenses. More than 90 percent of participants in 2020 maintained sobriety and more than 80 percent avoided new legal troubles. While the threat of punishment is used to win compliance with rules, prosecutors say they're more interested in permanently curing the underlying disease.

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Stopping Gun Violence, One Youth at a Time

Julie Reynolds Martinez

September 09, 2021 |

The Imprint |

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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 |

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

Francesco Ciampa

September 07, 2021 |

News48 |

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

Rachel Swan

September 07, 2021 |

San Francisco Chronicle |

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

Nate Sanford

September 01, 2021 |

Crosscut |

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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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