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  • A Philly jobs program lost six to a year of violence. Can it still help young people thrive?

    December 02, 2020 |

    The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    PowerCorpsPHL and Mural Arts' Guild have notched impressive results in job placements of young people with criminal records. The programs' employment training, paid apprenticeships, and art therapy classes have all been disrupted by 2020's pandemic, social unrest, and street violence. Private grants have largely made up for budget cuts from the city of Philadelphia. But the lack of face to face training and counseling has been disruptive. Both programs and their trainees are persevering despite longer odds, with workarounds that keep the programs afloat in difficult times.

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  • An oft-tried plan to curb violent crime in Baltimore resurfaces. City leaders say better leadership will bring better results.

    December 01, 2020 |

    The Baltimore Sun |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    In the 1990s and again in 2014, when Baltimore used a strategy called focused deterrence to reduce street violence, it showed initial promise but then failed. Those failures can be tied to how the program was managed, and to changes in leadership, not to the approach itself. The strategy offers help to people at risk of shooting others or being shot, but threatens them with prosecution if they reject the help and commit violence. The revived Group Violence Reduction Strategy has worked well in many cities, including New Orleans, where Baltimore's current police chief came from.

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  • Illegal Out-of-State Gun Trafficking is Fueling Baltimore's Homicide Epidemic

    December 01, 2020 |

    Baltimore Magazine |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    When Baltimore police shifted tactics starting in 2007, away from aggressive street stops aimed at arresting gun carriers toward regulating the supply of street guns at their sources, the city's murder rate plunged. Backed by studies on effective gun regulations, the focus on tracing crime guns to their sources, firearms traffickers and corrupt gun retailers, often in states with lax laws on gun sales, seemed to have significant positive effects. That strategy was largely abandoned and an emphasis on street enforcement resumed. Baltimore's homicides went back up.

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  • Gun advocates take the lead in embracing suicide prevention message

    November 28, 2020 |

    The Oregonian |

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    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Washington

    An alliance between health professionals and gun owners has increased suicide-prevention education and training through multiple initiatives in many states. Groups like Washington’s Safer Homes and Forefront Suicide Prevention ground their message in problem-solving rather than threats to restrict gun owners’ rights. Backed by data showing the deadly correlation between gun ownership and suicide deaths, these groups have made peer counseling and suicide prevention more common components of gun safety education, and have spread gun-storage devices and strategies much more widely through gun owner circles.

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  • ‘How Did We Not Know?' Gun Owners Confront a Suicide Epidemic

    November 17, 2020 |

    The New York Times |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    A public-education campaign to enlist gun owners in suicide prevention work by first informing them of the problem's scope has spread to programs in 21 states. Although the campaign's ultimate effects on suicide rates are not known, it has at least spurred gun-rights advocates to action, with safety and prevention messages spread through gun shows, retailers, trade groups, and gun ranges. The majority of gun deaths are suicides. Millions of guns have been sold during the pandemic and social-justice protests, elevating suicide risks. Safety measures include gun locks and having friends remove guns from homes.

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  • ‘I Want Them to See That Someone Cares About Them'

    November 14, 2020 |

    The Trace |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    The Violence Intervention Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center's Shock Trauma Center helps people meet basic needs after they have suffered a gunshot injury. Along with clothing, transportation vouchers, and toothbrushes, the program's social workers also provide talk therapy. The goal is to keep victims of violence from becoming victims again, and the approach is to build trust by giving the help without strings attached. Many people return for the help, and the therapy.

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  • Denver police solved less than half of all nonfatal shootings last year. A new solution is showing promise.

    November 13, 2020 |

    The Denver Post |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

    By creating a centralized team of detectives to focus on non-fatal shootings, Denver police improved their rate of solving such crimes from 39% in 2019 to 65% in the program's first seven months. The team of six detectives, hired for their talent at winning the trust of victims who might be reluctant to cooperate with the police, treats such shootings with all the seriousness of a homicide investigation, on the theory that solving these crimes will prevent more shootings. The boost in the so-called clearance rate, albeit preliminary, comes despite a big increase in shootings in Denver in 2020.

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  • Two years in, Maryland leads most other states in use of ‘red flag' gun law

    October 23, 2020 |

    The Baltimore Sun |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Maryland

    Two years after Maryland adopted a law allowing for court orders denying gun access to people at high risk of harming themselves or others, police and the public have invoked the law far more often than in most states with similar laws. It is difficult to prove that domestic-violence assaults or suicides have been prevented. But advocates and law enforcement officials say they have seen that effect. Research has documented that extreme-risk protection orders, as such laws are known, can prevent suicides. Credit for the law's use goes to police training and 24/7 court access for emergency hearings.

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  • This police officer has made it her mission to end domestic violence

    October 14, 2020 |

    NBC News |

    Broadcast TV News |

    3-5 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Thibodaux, Louisiana

    In southern Louisiana's Lafourche Parish, sheriff's deputy Valerie Martinez Jordan used her history as a domestic violence victim to create a countywide program to legally seize the guns of people convicted of domestic violence or whose gun rights are suspended under a protective order. The program, since expanded statewide by legislation she inspired, took more than 200 guns out of circulation in her parish alone since last year and is credited with preventing any domestic homicides by people disarmed through her program's efforts.

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  • Kalamazoo police look to violence intervention program and community partnerships to halt shootings

    October 13, 2020 |

    Second Wave Michigan |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Kalamazoo, Michigan

    In their Group Violence Intervention program, Kalamazoo police use "custom notifications" to intervene before street violence erupts. Working in tandem with community groups, the police tell likely shooters that more violence will get them arrested and imprisoned, but stopping now will be rewarded with job help and other services. Progress is slow. It gets measured one by one as young men get jobs and stay out of trouble. The pandemic disrupted the program, followed by a surge in violence. Community members praise the approach as an alternative to overly aggressive policing, but want more services programs.

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