Reducing Gun Violence in Brooklyn

[alexalonso]

Reducing Gun Violence in Brooklyn

Testing a Public Health Approach to Gun Violence, a new study from the Center for Court Innovation, documents the impact of Save Our Streets, an anti-violence project in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The findings suggest that Save Our Streets helped to reduce gun violence: over the course of the study period, shooting rates in Crown Heights decreased by six percent.

Save Our Streets, an adaptation of the Cure Violence model (formerly known as Chicago CeaseFire), treats violence like a disease, seeking to halt the spread from person to person. It does this by employing "violence interrupters" to mediate street conflicts before they escalate and by mobilizing community stakeholders in opposition to violence.

At a moment when so much public attention is focused on the question of how to reduce gun violence and the challenges of legislative solutions, Testing a Public Health Approach to Gun Violence offers encouraging news that ground-level prevention efforts can be an effective complement to enforcement strategies.

[Cold Bear]

SOS does good work. Used to live in Crown Heights and there were a few shootings while I was there. Especially on Nostrand. Things have quieted down but I will attribute that to police presence more so than SOS. 6% drop is good but not something that is conclusive enough to hang your hat on.

[alexalonso]

if the 6 percent drop occurred from the previous year, that is significant, if they are talking about homicides.