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

Sayaka Matsuoka

September 01, 2021 |

Triad City Beat |

Text |

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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When Shootings Erupt, These Moms, Pastors And Neighbors Step In To Defuse Tension

Jasmine Garsd

August 14, 2021 |

NPR |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Rock Safe Streets in the Red Fern Public Houses of Far Rockaway, Queens, ramped up its violence interrupter work starting in 2020 as gun violence increased. Red Fern then went nearly a year without a single shooting. Violence interrupters work apart from the police, banking on the community's trust in formerly incarcerated counselors to mediate disputes before they turn violent. Success is measured in daily increments, and many other factors influence community violence. But the residents do what they can to influence those driving the violence.

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Could this reentry program be the key to less gun violence in Philly?

Jo Piazza

August 05, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project started an intergenerational healing circle in 2020 that brought together young men with older men who served decades in prison, after being sentenced as youth. As a form of group therapy combined with life-skills coaching, going from old to young and vice versa, the group fostered a sense of personal growth and hope in participants – all aimed at lowering people's likelihood to commit violence. The results, as intangible as they may seem, inspired a repeat of the group in 2021, and the addition of a group serving younger and older women.

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Chicago organization uses predictive analytics to identify young people who may be headed for trouble

Shepard Smith

August 04, 2021 |

CNBC |

Broadcast TV Talk Show |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Eddie Bocanegra of READI Chicago describes his group's gun-violence-prevention model. Data from police and hospitals, plus community intelligence, identify those people most at risk of committing or being victimized by gun violence. Then, providing those at highest risk with cognitive behavioral therapy, job-finding help, and other social services has been shown to reduce this group's victimization by nearly one-third and its likelihood of arrest for gun violence by 80%.

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Shootings and murders are down in Chester as new community-driven program takes root

Vinny Vella

July 30, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chester, Pennsylvania

Barely half a year after creating the Partnerships for Safe Neighborhoods, the Delaware County district attorney's office and Chester police have seen a sharp drop in shootings. While multiple factors may affect the violence levels, officials and community members give much of the credit to the new program, which uses a focused deterrence approach to threatening to arrest people at risk of committing violence, but in return offering trade school training, rental aid, and counseling from community partners. The program shows the residents officials want to address the root causes, not just lock people up.

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Outgunned: Why California's groundbreaking firearms law is failing

Robert Lewis

July 21, 2021 |

CalMatters |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Two decades ago, California became the first state to create a system to track and seize guns from people no longer legally permitted to possess a gun. Thousands of guns have been seized. But the database of gun owners now barred from gun possession because of a violent offense, a serious mental illness, or a restraining order has ballooned and many people slip through the cracks of a system "mired in chronic shortcomings." Local police often fail to support the system and the state's investigation bureau is understaffed.

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How emergency workers are combating gun violence: 'We have to invest'

Shannon Lilly

July 14, 2021 |

WTVR-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Richmond, Virginia

Bridging the Gap is a violence prevention program at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center that emphasizes treating more than the physical wounds of gunshot victims. Starting in the hospital and continuing afterward, the program gives victims case managers and mentors to link them to services that will change their life's trajectory, including job opportunities. The aim is to interrupt the cycles in which the same people get injured repeatedly, sometimes leading to their deaths. Since the program started in 2007, people it has helped experience far fewer repeat injuries.

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