Treating Street Violence As A Contagion, Baltimore Looks For More Than One Cure

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.

With homicides up 50 percent last year, the D.C. Council is backing a controversial new crime bill aimed at stopping the violence. It’s modeled in part on a 9-year-old program in Richmond, California. Each year, 50 young men at risk for violence are paid to put down their guns. (1st of a 3 part series)

Certain cities in the United States are facing startlingly high rates of homicide and violence that haven't been seen since the height of gang activity in the 1990s. But certain cities, including Los Angeles, have continued to see declines in or stable crime rates, thanks to a community-based policing approach that uses tactics such as working with former drug dealers, hosting neighborhood events, cleaning litter from the streets, and mediating sit-downs between formal gang rivals.

Cure Violence is a the national non-profit organization that for 16 years has helped multiple cities adopt strategies for violence prevention that mirror those used in disease control. Programs employ trained “violence interrupters” and outreach workers to identify and mediate potentially deadly conflicts, maintaining relationships with those involved to ensure the conflict does not reignite. Cleveland hopes that replicating the model will help reduce local violence and crime.

California’s Bay Area has seen a 30% decrease in gun homicides, despite increasing economic inequality. The region has had many interventions to reach this decline, but the key to all of them is their community-driven nature. From collaborations between law enforcement and social services, to community mentorship programs, to investing in gun violence as a public health issue, each initiative is founded on neighborhood and individual empowerment instead of policing and incarceration.

Across the country, hospitals are embracing intensive intervention programs to help victims of violence — including those who have criminal histories — after they have been brought in for treatment of injuries. Such programs can help prevent retaliation, reduce the chance a patient will be violently injured again, and put people on track for success.

In efforts to diminish violent crime, police agencies are revisiting a model law enforcement strategy of the 1970s, "community policing," as an alternative to the more recent "broken windows" style of the late nineties. Research substantiates its effectiveness, too, in building citizens' trust of law enforcement, helping a community's ability to solve its own problems, and, in turn, decreasing crime rates. Despite redefined priorities in the wake of 9/11 and post-recession budget cuts, community policing is again on the rise and bringing positive results, too.

The Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence in Quebec has expanded rapidly, becoming a model for programs around the world. What sets it apart from projects in Europe and the United States is that it confronts extremism of all stripes — not just Islamist — and focuses on behavior that signals the risk of violence, not just radical ideas, only involving law enforcement as a last resort.

A law-enforcement strategy known as the "focused deterrence" approach involves identifying people most at risk to commit or to be victimized by crime — often the same individuals — and hosts meetings where they are offered resources to break the cycle, or, face serious legal consequences. The approach has worked so well in places like Kansas City, Boston, and High Point, that Milwaukee is looking at how to replicate the results.

In Sarasota, Florida, residents invested in change contend that for the poor to move beyond survival mode and break a multi-generational cycle, they need a wraparound strategy, rather than one-off or isolated services. The community is slowly growing programs like the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, which helps to fund and support comprehensive programs that build sustainable change. This article explores solutions being pursued by the county from job training for adults to after school support for students.