An Unlikely Bond Between Chicago Teens and Veterans Is Saving Lives in the City

Multnomah County, Oregon, experienced a surge of gang activity between 2013 and 2014. To curtail crime and violence, a group of pastors intervened with the 11:45 program. The program provides services and mentorship to gang-involved youth in the criminal justice system through outreach programs.

Gang violence in Chicago is not uncommon, but one organization is working to change what happens in the aftermath of funerals. Dubbed a public health program, Cure Violence enlists the help of community members to attend funerals, provide food and build trust with those that have been impacted by this violence in order to deter future incidents from taking place.

Choose 180 channels Seattle-area young people into an alternative to court and jail when they commit relatively minor offenses. This "offramp" from the traditional justice system, serving a disproportionately Black and brown clientele, helped 400 clients in 2019, 87% of whom did not commit new offenses. Research shows such diversion programs have a better track record for preventing future crimes. A Choose 180 "sentence" comes in the form of a workshop introducing young people to mentors and giving them a chance at the stability and frame of mind they need to seek more lasting change in their lives.

Sacramento is implementing a program developed in 2011 in Richmond, Calif., that showed success curtailing gun violence among young men caught up in gangs or potential shootings. They get numerous social services and mentoring from men previously incarcerated. Stipends are a controversial part of the program, but a review of the Richmond program in 2015 found most participants were still alive and had not suffered a gun related injury, or been arrested for gun-related activity.

Restorative justice, a process that originated in New Zealand, aims to repair damaged relationships rather than merely meting out punishment. It can be far more demanding than a traditional route through court, but for juvenile offenders like those in King County, who are statistically likely to get stuck in a cycle of crime after a first prison sentence, the alternative to incarceration may provide a constructive path forward.

Gang violence in Minneapolis has caused many gun-related deaths and the destruction of families. One community organizer, a former gang-member and drug dealer, builds trust with at-risk youth that are on the edge. He visits kids, helps them get to job interviews, reviews homework, and listens to their individual struggles.

A nonprofit in Indianapolis diverts kids from the juvenile justice system by using a teen court where first-time offenders admit their guilt to a jury made up of fellow students rather than going through suspension or expulsion. Jurors usually give verdicts that include community service, apologies, restitution, counseling and tutoring, and possibly serving on a jury. About 1,000 students participate each year and the county prosecutor named the nonprofit Crime Fighter of the Year for its work.

The anti-violence program at a YMCA in Chicago has war veterans mentoring young gang members as a treatment for the mental and physical wounds of violence. The gang members have healthy role models and the veterans a new sense of purpose.

Crushing poverty and extreme violence - fueled by drug trafficking and police corruption - are behind a mass migration of Central American children to the United States in recent months that has overwhelmed U.S. border resources and driven illegal immigration to the fore in U.S. congressional elections. But the United Nations has praised Nicaragua's security model, which includes social services to help youths in gangs find jobs as well as sport programs like little-league baseball teams.

Palm Beach County, Florida has many of the same social problems that Philadelphia has, including “gangs, drugs, and poverty.” However, their school system has managed to keep students safe by employing “safe-school case managers” who build relationships with students, and they offer a youth court that is a system run by students who peer-review cases of unrest. The initiatives in this county has prevented school violence from happening without metal detectors and just two police officers.