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The Bronx tries new way to cure violence as US shootings surge

Joshua Chaffin

October 23, 2021 |

Financial Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence is a city-funded crew of "violence interrupters," former gang members or the formerly incarcerated who have enough street credibility to de-escalate disputes in ways the police often cannot. Founded in 2014, BRAG works in three "hot" zones, two of which have gone murder-free for more than five years. Such groups, using the Cure Violence public-health approach to gun-violence reduction, occupy an "uneasy niche in public safety" between the streets and police.

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‘I Don't Want to Hit My Children. I Don't Want to Hit Anybody.'

Rachel Louise Snyder

October 01, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: England

The Respect Phoneline started in the UK in 2004 to give anonymous callers, usually men, a way to seek help for their violent impulses. Rather than putting the burden for resolving domestic violence on survivors and on the punitive tools of the criminal justice system, the hotline approach recognizes that people prone to abusing others are frustrated and unhappy and want to change but need help to figure out how. While the aftermath of anonymous phone counseling can't be tracked, the author observed the process helping many men change their thinking. Similar hotlines have started in multiple places.

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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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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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How a Small Town Silenced a Neo-Nazi Hate Campaign

Elizabeth Williamson

September 05, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Whitefish, Montana

When a white nationalist leader sparked an antisemitic hate campaign in his vacation community to settle a personal grievance, the community rose up in unison to confront the hate and render it toothless. Everyone from neighbors to the governor joined in the effort to counter disinformation and intimidation with alternative messages that telegraphed communal disapproval. A planned march by neo-Nazis was a flop and the leader of the planned attacks is now shunned. Other communities have contacted the leaders of the counteroffensive to get tips on protecting themselves from similar attacks.

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Greensboro's Cure Violence program promotes healing over policing to prevent gun violence

Sayaka Matsuoka

September 01, 2021 |

Triad City Beat |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro's version of the Cure Violence program, called Gate City Coalition, has helped reduce homicides nearly to zero in the two neighborhoods where it operates. At a time of escalated gun violence, the Cure Violence approach seems to be working by mediating disputes before they turn violent, counseling against retaliation, and attacking the root causes of violence by helping residents connect with needed services. This "work on the whole individual" approach is based on the outreach workers' credibility in the community, as an alternative to 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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How Otukpo Became An Oasis Of Peace In Benue After Fulani Militia's Attack

Chikezie Omeje Arinze Chijioke

August 19, 2021 |

Sahara Reporters |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Otukpo, Benue

Violent clashes between farmers and cattle herders that have claimed thousands of lives have largely ceased in Otukpo, thanks to a peacekeeping process that resolves disputes and is based on a shared recognition of two groups' humanity. The process imposed rules in an otherwise unruly system in which Fulani herders' open-grazing cattle destroyed crops, leading to violence. Negotiated leases and dispute-resolution mechanisms, governed through monthly meetings, have resulted in only one death since 2018, while surrounding areas continue to suffer many casualties.

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In Religiously-divided Kaduna, Muslim And Christian Women Lead Peace Talks

Innocent Eteng

August 17, 2021 |

Prime Progress |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Kaduna

The Interfaith Mediation Center trained two groups of 30 Muslim and Christian women in two areas of Kaduna as a pilot project putting women at the center of the work needed to understand and prevent religion-motivated violence. Dozens have died in these areas. Even though women often are the victims, they usually are excluded from peacemaking work. The women committed to live peacefully and then went door to door to meet others in the community for bridge-building dialogues, which some said was a unique and transformative experience for them.

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