The Seattle model Ithaca may use to shatter drug-jail cycle

Fatal overdoses in Dayton, Ohio have fallen 50% in the past year. The city's success is a combination of multiple factors, including cooperation between health workers and police agencies, widespread availability of Nalaxone, Medicaid expansion, and more; however, whether these changes can be replicated and stay successful in the long-term is yet to be proven.

Glasgow used to be known as the murder capital of Europe. But police began tackling crime as a public health issue and partnered with doctors, social workers and educators, while also increasing stops and searches of potential offenders and getting harsher sentences passd for carrying knives. Perpetrators get help with education and jobs and the city has seen a 60 percent drop in homicides, but some experts caution that other factors could contribute to that decline.

Baltimore has dramatically reduced homicides through a multi-pronged approach involving a data-driven Group Violence Reduction Strategy, credible-messenger intervention programs, and aggressive prosecution of illegal gun possession. This has resulted in a record-low murder rate in 2026, with 60 killings recorded through August compared to roughly 220 at the same point four years prior.

By prioritizing treatment over law enforcement, Switzerland dramatically reduced its drug problem. In 1994, the country adopted a progressive policy to treat heroin addiction as a public health crisis, focusing on harm reduction, treatment, and prevention in addition to traditional law enforcement. The policy, which embraces medicated-assisted treatment and universal access to services, helped greatly reduce issues such as the incidence of HIV, drug overdoses, and deaths over the long-term.

It turns out the old adage of knowing your neighbor really can help make your neighborhood safer. A study of more than 250 cities found that a key factor behind a drop in crime in the last 20 years was the mobilizing of citizens by nonprofit organizations like block clubs. In Milwaukee these “urban guardians” have helped bring communities together and foster safer spaces that also address urban blight.

Now that a coalition of Milwaukee preachers, police and prosecutors has witnessed firsthand the success of a crime-fighting partnership in Boston, the local coalition is clearing its first obstacle -- putting its ideas into action at home.

RESTORE is a juvenile re-entry program offering supportive programming and guidance to intervene in cycles of crime and help more youth avoid the juvenile system and learn to make more positive choices. Already this year, RESTORE has served 344 young people through their workshops. Since launching in 2023, the program has helped 19 people graduate with their high school diploma, GED or a certification.

The nonprofit Action Northeast Trust organizes youth ultimate Frisbee matches to strengthen social cohesion, promote gender equality, and foster peace among young people from different villages, ethnicities, and mother tongues in Assam, India.

Gun buyback programs through organizations like the Robby Poblete Foundation help get unwanted firearms out of households and off the streets. Recently, the Foundation’s first gun buyback program received 474 firearms from residents, as more gun buyback programs have been popping up across the country.

Since 2015, Project Reset has diverted potential criminal cases to programs that change behaviors without imposing punishment or staining people's records with criminal convictions. Art classes, behavioral therapy, and restorative dialogue have made 16- and 17-year-olds in the program significantly less likely to commit new offenses, while 98% of those admitted to the program have completed it. Offered in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bronx, the program helped the Manhattan district attorney nearly cut in half the number of prosecutions of low-level misdemeanors and violations.