Curing Violence Like an Infectious Disease

The location-based social network Nextdoor responded to criticism about racial profiling on its site by revamping the platform. The company collaborates with many public agencies and Oakland’s mayor said the city’s departments should stop working with Nextdoor until it addressed these issues. Nextdoor subsequently changed how people can report crimes or suspicious activity so that race is de-emphasized and this has reduced racial profiling on the site by 75 percent, although some activists who helped Nextdoor say they were left out of the process and there is more work to do.

Members of a community group in North Hartford, CT, are a positive presence on the streets of the dangerous neighborhood they once grew up in. Men Standing Up Against Violence aim to deter violence, provide support, mediate conflicts, and mentor the youth. The presence of the group was initially unwelcomed by local police officers, but they have proven to be an effective and vital addition to the neighborhood, winning over both the community and the local police department. The group's success is attributed to the trust they've built with locals who often have a deep mistrust and fear of the police.

An informal awareness campaign led by Chinese Hospital in San Francisco's Chinatown has played a prominent role in helping to keep the spread of COVID-19 cases to a minimal in the community. Working with local health officials and using the city’s Chinese-language media, the hospital and community leaders implemented proactive protocols that included widespread mask-wearing and business closures. Although tourism and business revenue has significantly decreased, the community has been able to avoid outbreaks.

When faced with a rise in gang violence, Ecuador tried an approach that was in complete opposition to "zero tolerance," the methodology America has been attempting to use to tackle the problem. Rather than target gang members as wrongdoers, the country "allowed the gangs to remake themselves as cultural associations that could register with the government, which in turn allowed them to qualify for grants and benefit from social programming."

While there is support among the Memphis government to remove statues of Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Tennessee state government has passed legislation which stymied local efforts. In response, the Memphis government passed a law to sell public parks to a private organization and legislators established an organization to purchase the parks where the statues were located. Through this legal means, the statues were removed and this action was outside the state’s jurisdiction.

In Detroit, Michigan, residents reduce the effects of gentrification through physical activity and shared storytelling. The non-profit Pedal to Porch encourages residents to bike to their neighbors’ homes and record their memories. The effort helps retain some of the identity in Detroit’s changing communities and establishes new connections for the city to grow. Founder Cornetta Lane notes, “communities are more likely to bounce back from social and natural disasters when they know each other.”

Institutionalizing the mentally ill can exacerbate their symptoms, while dehumanizing them and taking away opportunities for agency. For centuries, the town of Geel in Belgium has a government-funded program that places “boarders” in residential homes where they receive care like a family member. The solution to the problem is to not treat the mentally ill as a social problem, but rather as a social norm.

New York Police Department has Operation Ceasefire, in which a mother whose child was a victim of gun violence calls gang members at risk of perpetuating similar crimes. The effort aims to bridge the divide between ethnic minority communities and the police with community pressure on behalf of the police.

Chicago suffers from violence and tension between police officers and low-income predominantly Black communities. In 2011, the chief of police consulted with a network of university academics and began implementing “procedural justice,” which was an approach that trained police departments to surmount the lack of confidence that residents felt towards officers. The academics and police chief found that by directing social workers to the homes of at-risk community members, and regarding them with respect, there was a reduction in violence—but now the program has stalled.

Since moving to a county-run police department, Camden, N.J., historically one of the nation’s poorest and most dangerous cities, has altered its culture to overcome years of mistrust by developing a personal relationship with and empowering the local community.