Juvenile Justice Jeopardy game teaches Cleveland kids about the law: Pathways to Peace

Should police be law enforcers or social responders? Some leaders say "guardian" duty is at least important as purely law enforcement tasks, sometimes known as "warrior" work. That idea is rooted in centuries-old principles of policing.

Cleveland has struggled through the years to reduce youth violence. But important lessons have been learned, here and elsewhere. City officials say they are factoring those lessons into their latest plans to reduce violence among young men in the city.

Richmond, California ranked among the highest homicide rates in the country. The city created the Office of Neighborhood Safety to engage the community in the effort to curb gun violence and prevent homicides. ONS works directly with the young people who are at risk and have succeeded in reducing the homicide rate.

After successfully testing a program out that used police officers as the conduits for organizing community-based activities, the Buffalo Police Department has created a team specifically to continue the work. Known as the Neighborhood Engagement Team (NET), Police Commissioner Byron C. Lockwood aims for NET to be "the model of the new Buffalo Police Department."

To improve its consistently high truancy rates, last academic year Española Valley High School implemented a new truancy and dropout prevention program aimed at shaping up poor attendance. The results are yet to be determined — but debate still rages within the school about the best method for battling truancy.

The increase of violence between the police and Black communities across the country requires a reconstruction of the relationship that addresses empathy, trust, and crime reduction. The Department of Justice has developed test programs in different cities that train police officers in procedural justice. The early results of this program in Stockton, CA show that communities and police have built trust and law legitimacy, while the crime rate has not increased.

After going to prison themselves, John Knight of Jackson and Shanduke McPhatter of Brooklyn are living straight and determined to make changes. They work as "violence interrupters" in their neighborhoods, using an approach called "Cure Violence," developed by Dr. Gary Slutkin. They mentor other young, at-risk men and encourage them towards graduating high school, community service, staying away from drugs, and pursuing honest work.

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.

A decrease in arrests in Chicago public schools is a result of the district moving away from a zero-tolerance policy for discipline and acting in favor of more instructional intervention. This approach has allowed for kids experiencing trauma and lashing out to receive better care and direction than is provided by punitive action.

Los Angeles used to be a hotbed of racial profiling and unrest. Now, in the wake of Ferguson and the police killings in Brooklyn, Chief Charlie Beck thinks his force could be a model for the rest of the nation. The dept. has worked hard in recent years to create a police department that reflects the city it serves and has made fundamental progress on key civil rights issues.