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Melt Thy Rifles Into Garden Tools

Patricia Leigh Brown

November 06, 2018 |

The New York Times |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Raw Tools, is a nonprofit that converts guns into garden tools. The organization was created by Michael Martin, a pastor who wanted to do something after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that resulted in the death 20 children and six educators. “You’re taking a weapon of death and turning it into the complete opposite, which is life.”

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What is the public health approach to violence — and does it work?

Edward Siddons

September 28, 2018 |

Apolitical |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Public health approaches to violence, in which different sectors and agencies treat it as a contagious disease, has gained support across the world and has taken many forms. This approach relies on data collection to inform policy and devise services, as well as routine checks on the effectiveness of interventions and scaling the ones that work. While the public health approach to violence has saved costs and reduced police-recorded violence, there are ethical concerns about the widespread data gathering.

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Operation Ceasefire: Inside a Community's Radical Approach to Gang Violence

Scott Michels

September 26, 2018 |

Retro Report |

Documentary |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Operation Ceasefire, known as the “Boston miracle,” abandoned traditional policing’s responses to street violence, which caused severe racial tensions, and created a community coalition that used a carrot-and-stick model of targeting people at risk of suffering or committing violence, threatening them with punishment but offering instead social services if they put their guns down. After dramatically reducing violence in Boston in the early 1990s, it spread nationwide. But this highly targeted enforcement method can fail when it isn’t done by the book or sustained over a long period.

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The city curing violence like a disease

Thomas Mackintosh

September 21, 2018 |

BBC |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: England, London

The Cure Violence program in Chicago uses former gang members as "violence interrupters" to intervene in imminent gun violence incidents, a public-health approach that treats violence like a communicable disease that can be contained before it spreads. Neighborhoods using the approach have experienced drops in violence. London officials, seeing that the program had similar positive effects when used by Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit, are starting a program to respond to high rates of knife crimes. But the amount they are investing is too small, one criminologist warns.

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Gun sellers emerge as unlikely ally in fight against suicides

Jon Schuppe

September 17, 2018 |

NBC News |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, St. George, Utah

A Utah shooting range is part of a growing voluntary movement among gun shop owners and firearm sellers focuses on educating staff about warning signs of suicide in an effort to reduce the number of people using guns to kill themselves. One effort, the Gun Shop Project, has spread to 10 states and there are similar partnerships in about 10 more. Experts say suicide attempts with firearms usually end in death and restricting access to guns in those situations can be very effective.

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Jolted

Nina Keck Liam Elder-Connors

September 05, 2018 |

Vermont Public Radio |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Fair Haven, Vermont

When it’s discovered that someone is planning a mass shooting, what are the possible responses? Can those individuals be prosecuted? How do states balance personal liberty and public safety? These are all questions that residents of Fair Haven, Vermont had to grapple with when plans of a school shooting were found. From better threat assessments, to gun control legislation, to considering teen’s experiences in today’s world, the issues and corresponding responses prove challenging reconcile.

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Can the Manufacturer of Tasers Provide the Answer to Police Abuse?

Dana Goodyear

August 27, 2018 |

The New Yorker |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Data suggests that when an officer is wearing a body camera the likelihood that they will shoot a person decreases by as much as 60 percent. Axon Enterprises, which originally made a fortune from selling taser guns to police departments, started investing in body cameras back in 2006. Now, they are the largest manufacturer “holding contracts with more than half the major police departments in the country.” The company believes this technology will bridge the gap between lethal force and safety.

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The Other Side of “Broken Windows”

Eric Klinenberg

August 23, 2018 |

The New Yorker |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

By cleaning up thousands of abandoned buildings and vacant lots, the city of Philadelphia caused sharp declines in violence and other crime in a program that has become a model for cities nationwide. The cleanup program became the subject of two long-term experiments comparing the "treated" buildings and lots to those that remained signs of blight. In one study, gun violence dropped 39% in and around cleaned-up buildings. The 5% decline associated with cleaned-up vacant lots was much smaller but still meaningful. Neighbors praised the sense of safety they gained in the improved areas.

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How a Scrappy California Crime Lab Learned to Crack More Gun Cases

Ann Givens

August 14, 2018 |

The Trace |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

The Contra Costa Police Department crime lab has accelerated processing ballistics evidence through a national database that works like fingerprints for guns. The result has been connecting gun violence incidents more quickly and getting dangerous offenders off the streets. The lab’s director was able to do this without extra funding or staff by implementing new protocols and cross-training staff.

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'We Are Going To Survive': Douglas Students Use Music, Art To Heal At Camp Shine

Jessica Bakeman

August 14, 2018 |

WLRN |

Multi-Media |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Parkland, Florida

Camp Shine, is helping student survivors of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, heal. Through art, dance, and music, they are processing their trauma. The camp, was founded by two upperclassmen from MSDHS who believe in the idea of healing through art. Data shows it’s working. Researchers from the University of Miami who surveyed the students before and after the camp saw a reduction in PTSD symptoms. "They're here to have fun, but they're also here to heal.”

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