How a US strategy is helping gang members in Malmö turn their lives around

East Harlem’s Cornerstone youth programming at community centers brings together community nonprofits, police, residents, and other local agencies to address gun violence in the public housing. Through community outreach, more strategic gang enforcement policies, and other programming, the approach has led to a 30% reduction in shootings in the area.

The House of Umoja in West Philadelphia, created in the late 1960s in response to high rates of gang violence, succeeded in helping thousands of young men through a residential treatment program, mediating disputes peacefully, and brokering a gang truce credited with lowering Philadelphia violence in the 1970s. The program was based on Afrocentric customs and family structure (its name means unity in Swahili). The grandson of the founders is now trying to revive the home as part of the city's multiple anti-violence initiatives.

Community violence intervention programs like the interrupter model and groups like Cure Violence are deploying knowledgeable people — specifically those with experience in crime and the legal system — into neighborhoods to help steer people away from gangs and violent crime. The purpose with groups like Cure Violence is to treat violent crime — like gun violence — like an epidemic, deploying those with credibility into vulnerable populations. When Cure Violence was first launched in Chicago in 2000, shootings declined by 68%.

In their Group Violence Intervention program, Kalamazoo police use "custom notifications" to intervene before street violence erupts. Working in tandem with community groups, the police tell likely shooters that more violence will get them arrested and imprisoned, but stopping now will be rewarded with job help and other services. Progress is slow. It gets measured one by one as young men get jobs and stay out of trouble. The pandemic disrupted the program, followed by a surge in violence. Community members praise the approach as an alternative to overly aggressive policing, but want more services programs.

Young black Jacksonians are afraid to call the police in self defence for fear they will be accused of gang violence and arrested instead of protected. Various programs are using research of violence and recidivism to create programs that address the people most likely to commit violent crimes instead of just putting them in jail.

New Haven's Project Longevity has measurably reduced gang violence through an approach brings law enforcement, social service groups, and community leaders together to offer teenagers and young men incentives to stop the violence, and a way out for those who need help. It's a model that may provide a solution for other cities facing gang violence.

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.

In Glasgow, gang violence was rampant and affected the youth of the community. Then a new initiative was started: VRU's Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV). This initiative focused on providing support to those who need help and to reduce police tolerance towards violence. This program helped to build empathy and reduced violence by 24%.

The Mural Movement uses the power of art as a tool to help Black and brown communities heal when grappling with gun violence and racism. The group works with artists who create murals of victims of gun violence and now has 186 murals nationwide.

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.