“We’re trying to stop the violence. That’s it, and that’s all,” says Eddie Bocanegra emphatically at the beginning of PBS documentary The Interrupters. Bocanegra spent 14 years in prison for murder and now works with a violence prevention organization in Chicago. He spends most of his time on city streets getting up close and personal with gun violence — sometimes literally interrupting gunfights.

Eddie works at the epicenter of the gun homicide epidemic. While our attention is understandably drawn to horrific mass shootings that are prominently covered in the media, the stark reality is that the majority of gun homicides take place day-to-day in poor, urban, minority communities.

90 people were killed in mass shootings in 2012, including the movie theatre massacre in aurora. that same year, nearly 6,000 black men were murdered in shootings that rarely made the news.

Some cities in California have already had success with community violence-prevention programs like the one Eddie runs. In Richmond, a comprehensive strategy of violence interruption, social support for those at-risk of violence, and community-law enforcement partnership led to drastic reductions in their homicides up until 2014. But a recent uptick points to the importance of continued investment and support to our communities most vulnerable to violence.

Why This Matters

When it comes to urban gun violence, it’s mainly young black men who are dying; although they’re 6% of the U.S. population, they are almost 50% of yearly U.S. gun murders. And once a few people in an urban community are impacted, violence becomes hard to stop. One evaluation of a violence interruption program found that 40% of their efforts involve retaliatory shootings — violence touched off by previous violence.

It’s not just retaliation that catches people. It’s also fear. People in communities torn by gun violence say they carry a gun because they fear for their safety and do not believe the police can protect them. One religious leader noted that the youth of his community believe “it is better to be judged by 12 [jurors] than to be carried by 6 [pallbearers].”

Our response to this violence has often unfairly targeted whole communities in discriminatory and intrusive policing tactics — such as stop-and-frisk — and punitive policies that exacerbate mass incarceration — such as harsh sentencing for drug-related crimes. This response upends neighborhoods, damages police-community relations and perpetuates the cycle of violence.

In short: gun homicide is a plague among communities of color in urban America. But there are proven approaches to reduce this violence.

Our Approach

The most effective interventions to reduce urban gun violence are community-based approaches that do not focus purely on punishing offenders. Rather, they identify who is “symptomatic,” or at risk of violence, and provide wraparound support to offenders and the community. We aim to support these programs in urban areas of California.

“We know, based on evidence and real-life experience, that it is possible to reduce gun violence without contributing to catastrophic levels of mass incarceration—and simultaneously improve police-community relationships.”

Pastor Michael McBride
Director PICO Network's Urban Strategies & LIVE FREE Campaign

Violence Interrupters are one example of an evidence-based program. They’re of the community, culturally competent, sometimes former gang members. They operate within a public health model that treats violence like a contagious disease. Violence Interrupters mediate tough situations and connect the people they talk to with services that could help them escape the cycle.

Other programs provide support to help potential offenders through community members who care about their future, such as faith leaders or local activists, as well as the law enforcement officers handling the affected neighborhoods. Group Violence Intervention programs identify high-risk individuals — who may be as few as 0.25 to 1 percent of the city’s population — and they bring those people into one room for “call-ins” with mentors and authority figures. Law enforcement is included both as part of the program strategy, and to help with the broader goal of improving police relations.

For a call-in, the assembled group may include everyone from local religious leaders to social service providers to parents, who collaborate to give a clear message that they care about the person and want to help them turn their life around. The group also makes it clear that the community itself has asked the police to step in if the individual does not take their support. These Group Violence Interventions have demonstrated results of up to 63% reductions in youth homicide.

A final example is Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs, which come into a person’s life at the very moment that they go to the hospital with a gunshot wound. Recovering from such an injury can cause people to think deeply about where they are in their lives, and to be receptive to the idea of a more peaceful future.

Photo Emergency Room.jpg

One of the first Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs started in Oakland in 1994. Youth exposed to it were 70% less likely to be arrested and 60% less likely to get involved with anything illegal at all.

All these evidence-based approaches highlight the importance of collaboration across local government agencies, law enforcement, community members, faith leaders, and health care providers to get the right support to the right people at the right time. And importantly, they are community-led — ensuring that the people close to the challenges are the ones making changes and decisions.

Read Next Topic: Safer Guns →

RESOURCES

Safer Communities

Why This Matters

Our Approach