what can police do to reduce gun violence

Groundwork

Community gun violence is a grade of interpersonal gun violence (assaults) that takes place between non-intimately related individuals in cities. This form of gun violence disproportionately impacts Black and Hispanic/Latino individuals. It occurs in public places — streets, parks, front porches — in cities beyond the The states, and it makes up the bulk of gun homicides that occur in the U.s..iv Most community gun violence is highly full-bodied within under-resourced city neighborhoods. As a upshot, whole neighborhoods are exposed to and impacted by the adverse health effects of gun violence.5 The neighborhoods disproportionately afflicted by community gun violence are the same neighborhoods impacted by social and economic inequities that can exist traced to racism, segregation, and current discriminatory policies, similar redlining, exclusionary zoning, and mass incarceration.6, 7 These inequities often are at the root of customs gun violence. Consequently, Black and Hispanic/Latino Americans are disproportionately impacted by community gun violence.

Canton	Average annual firearm homicides (2015-2019)	Age-adjusted firearm homicide rate (per 100,000 people)	Times higher than the national firearm homicide rate
St. Louis city, MO	129	41.86	nine.3
Baltimore city, Doc	241	38.36	8.five
Orleans Parish, LA (New Orleans)	121	31.20	6.9
Jefferson County, AL (Birmingham)	132	xx.91	4.vi
Shelby Canton, TN (Memphis)	187	20.26	4.5
Jackson County, MO (Kansas City)	130	nineteen.47	iv.3
Philadelphia County, PA	270	xvi.44	3.6
Wayne County, MI (Detroit)	253	xv.48	3.iv
Richmond city, VA	38	fifteen.09	3.three
Marion Canton, IN (Indianapolis)	142	fifteen.02	iii.3
District of Columbia, DC	107	thirteen.88	three.1
Milwaukee County, WI	115	12.xiv	2.vii
Cook County, IL (Chicago)	626	12.12	2.7
Jefferson County, KY (Louisville)	86	11.77	ii.6
Cuyahoga Canton, OH (Cleveland)	133	eleven.36	2.five
The states	14,062	iv.51	-

Source: CDC WONDER.

We ascertain urban counties as big central metro counties as classified by the National Center for Health Statistics.

All rates listed are age-adjusted in order to allow for authentic comparisons between populations with differing age distributions.

Firearm Homicide Rates vs. Full Number of Firearm Homicides

Considering the population varies significantly by city or county, firearm homicide rates provide a ameliorate illustration of the bear upon gun violence has on communities, rather than the total number of firearm homicides within a given area.

For instance, Cook County (Chicago), Illinois has by far the most number of firearm homicides out of whatever county in the country, averaging over 600 each year. However, because Melt County has a population of 5.2 million residents, the firearm homicide rate is much lower than many other large metro counties with smaller populations. In fact, Cook County's firearm homicide charge per unit is 11.62 per 100,000, ranking it 13th in the country among large central metro counties, behind Milwaukee County.12, xiii Clearly, the sheer number of firearm homicides illustrates that Cook Canton is in the midst of a gun violence crisis, but this crunch is not unique to Chicago; information technology is equally devastating in cities across the United States.

Fifty-fifty inside the cities that have high firearm homicide rates, customs gun violence is highly concentrated within under-resourced neighborhoods. For instance, an assay of firearm homicide data from 2015 institute that 26% of all firearm homicides in the U.s.a. occurred in census tracts that contained simply 1.v% of the American population.14 This illustrates how gun violence within cities is often confined to a few under-resourced neighborhoods where predominantly Blackness and Hispanic/Latino Americans live. In Saint Louis, for case, 42% of the city's murders in 2015 occurred in just 8 out of the city's 79 residential neighborhoods.xv During that twelvemonth, 9 people were murdered by firearm in 9 separate shootings, all bars to one 0.four square mile demography tract.16

Black Americans are more x times more likely to be murdered past firearm than their White counterparts.25 Over the past decade (2010-2019), 71,994 Black Americans died by firearm homicide; the vast majority of these victims were young males. Young Black males ages 15-34 make upwardly ii% of the U.South. population but account for 37% of all firearm homicide victims.26 Gun violence is the leading crusade of expiry for Black males ages 15-34.27

Black females are also unduly impacted past gun violence. Blackness females are virtually 4 times more probable to be victims of gun violence than White females. This disparity is fifty-fifty more than pronounced amid teen and young adult females. Young Black females ages fifteen-24 are 7 times more likely to be murdered past firearm than their White counterparts.28

Hispanic/Latino Americans are more than twice equally likely to be murdered by firearms than White (non Hispanic/Latino) Americans.29 Over the by decade (2010-2019), 20,184 Hispanic/Latino Americans have been murdered by firearms, more sixty% of whom are males ages fifteen-34. Gun violence is the second leading cause of death for Hispanic/Latino males under the historic period of 34, and Hispanic/Latino males ages 15-34 are 3.4 times more than likely to exist murdered by firearm than their White (non Hispanic/Latino) counterparts.thirty

Hispanic/Latina females are besides disproportionately impacted by gun violence, peculiarly young females. Immature Hispanic/Latino females ages xv-24 are nigh twice every bit likely to be murdered by firearm than White (non Hispanic/Latino) females.31

Female Firearm Homicide Rates,
2015-2019

Historic period-adjusted charge per unit per 100,000

White (non Hispanic/Latino)

Hispanic/Latino (any race)

Black (non Hispanic/Latino)

Source: CDC WONDER.

All rates listed are historic period-adapted in lodge to allow for accurate comparisons between populations with differing historic period distributions.

Male Firearm Homicide Rates,
2015-2019

Age-adapted charge per unit per 100,000

White (non Hispanic/Latino)

Hispanic/Latino (any race)

Black (non Hispanic/Latino)

Source: CDC WONDER.

All rates listed are age-adjusted in order to allow for accurate comparisons between populations with differing age distributions.

Firearm Homicide Rates by
Unduly Impacted Populations,
2015-2019

Age-adjusted rate per 100,000

Unduly impacted population

National average

Male person

Blackness male person

Blackness males living
in big fundamental
metro counties

Black males living
in large fundamental
metro counties
aged 15-34

Source: CDC WONDER.

All rates listed are age-adjusted in order to let for accurate comparisons between populations with differing historic period distributions.

Police Brutality and Discrimination Influence Community Gun Violence

Law legitimacy is the manner community members trust in, and are willing to work with, the police. It is a vital component in reducing community gun violence. When communities view the law forcefulness as legitimate they are more willing to work with law enforcement to identify and detain those responsible for committing acts of gun violence, and to intervene before conflicts develop into shootings. As well, when law legitimacy is strong, victims of violence experience prophylactic and can rely on formal channels of justice to bring most closure, instead of resorting to retaliation.46

Law brutality and widespread discrimination undermine police legitimacy, and thereby fuel community gun violence. In many Blackness and Brown communities distrust in police enforcement stems from a legacy of racist policies and country-sanctioned violence, often carried out by police. Compounded upon this history is the ongoing crisis of mass incarceration and police brutality.46 Enquiry consistently highlights racial disparities at virtually every step within the criminal justice organisation. Blackness males are stopped past police, arrested, denied bond, wrongfully convicted, issued longer sentences, and shot past constabulary at much college rates than White Americans.46

Unsurprisingly, when individuals experience law discrimination or brutality they are less likely to trust or rely on law enforcement. Consequently, these community members are reticent to report criminal activity or human action every bit witnesses in criminal investigations. Instead, some rely on informal channels of justice – like retaliatory violence – to resolve conflict.46 A 2016 study examined the relationships between police brutality, police legitimacy, and homicide rates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The authors examined the highly publicized, brutal beating of an unarmed Black homo, Frank Jude, by Milwaukee police officers in 2004. The authors establish that in the year afterward the beating, calls for police services dropped dramatically in the city, particularly in underserved Black and Brown neighborhoods. In the year following the beating there were 22,200 fewer 911 calls. This subtract in 911 calls coincided with a spike in homicides. In the six months following this beating, homicides in Milwaukee increased by 32%.46 The authors conclude that this one act of police brutality eroded trust in law enforcement and probable contributed to increases in gun violence. This study illustrates how police brutality is both unconscionable in its own right and may fuel community gun violence.

How Does Community Gun Violence Impact Wellness and Wellbeing?

The trauma of community gun violence extends beyond those who are directly injured past a shooting to those in the community who are exposed indirectly equally a witness. Those indirectly and directly impacted past customs gun violence experience lasting impacts on health and wellbeing.

Blackness and Hispanic/Latino Americans are exposed to community gun violence — by witnessing a shooting or knowing a loved one impacted — at much higher rates than White (not Hispanic/Latino) Americans. The widespread exposure to customs gun violence impacts health, wellbeing, and development. This trauma exacerbates existing wellness and social inequalities and further perpetuates gun violence.

Wellness Equity

"Health equity means that everyone has a fair and merely opportunity to exist equally healthy every bit possible. Achieving this requires removing structural inequities such equally poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with off-white pay, quality education and housing, prophylactic environments, and health care."47

Each year, more than than 35,600 Americans survive gun assaults, and the victims and their families must cope with the associated physical pain and mental trauma.48 The trauma of community gun violence extends beyond those who are direct injured by a shooting to those in the community who are exposed as a witness, a neighbor, classmate, or acquaintance. This indirect exposure to community gun violence is often wide-spread within many under-resourced Black and Hispanic/Latino communities. As a outcome, millions of Black and Hispanic/Latino Americans are coping with the adverse health impacts of customs gun violence.

Nationally, Blackness and Hispanic/Latino Americans report beingness exposed to violence at rates twice that of White Americans.49 A 2018 nationally representative poll of American adults found that 27% of Blackness Americans had witnessed a shooting and 23% reported that someone they care for has been killed past a gun. Among Hispanic/Latino Americans, 22% reported that someone they cared for has been killed by a gun.l Over 45% of Black and Hispanic/Latino American respondents stated that gun violence was either a major problem or somewhat problematic within their neighborhood, compared to just 27% of White Americans.51

Exposure to gun violence within under-resourced Black and Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods is often routine, even for children. A number of studies have establish that betwixt l% to 95% of youth surveyed in under-resourced neighborhoods have either witnessed a shooting, an assault, or heard gunshots.52 For case, a representative sample of Chicago youth in fourscore dissimilar neighborhoods spanning nine years found that 43% of boys and 28% of girls had seen someone else who was shot or shot at with a gun inside the by two years. This study plant that within these Chicago neighborhoods, the odds of being exposed to violence were 74% higher for Hispanic/Latino youth and 112% higher for Black youth when compared to White youth.53 This exposure to violence, especially for youth and children, impacts health and wellbeing both in the short term and the long term.

Gun violence exposure has lasting impacts on health, wellbeing, and development if left untreated.54 Research suggests that gun violence exposure among children and teens tin can change the chemical science in the brain, severely impacting cognitive and emotional development.55 For instance, one study found that 65% of youth indirectly exposed to community gun violence, by hearing gunshots or witnessing a shooting, reported being extremely distressed. The bulk of those exposed reported negative changes to their behavior as a consequence of this violence, such as being less probable to travel outside alone, avoiding certain locations, staying home from school, and carrying guns for protection.56

When individuals are afraid to leave their homes and develop relationships with neighbors and peers, their concrete and mental health are impacted. As a result, youth exposed to customs gun violence are more likely to be physically inactive, showroom hating behaviors, act aggressively, and perform poorly in school.57, 58

Exposure to customs gun violence is as well linked to an increased likelihood of engaging in violent behavior. For example, a written report examining 500 Black American youth living in under-resourced neighborhoods in Virginia found that straight exposure to violence was the all-time predictor of whether an individual would subsequently appoint in gun-related crimes.59

Exposure to customs gun violence is associated with posttraumatic stress disorder, antisocial behavior, low, feet, stunted cognitive and emotional development, and risky booze and substance employ.60, 61, 62, 63 It is also linked to long term poor chronic health atmospheric condition. Research consistently finds that those exposed to community violence every bit children are at increased risk for heart affliction, stroke, cancer, lung disease, diabetes, and hepatitis.64, 65

Exposure to gun violence is associated with:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Hating behavior
• Low
• Stunted cognitive and emotional development
• Risky booze and substance use
• High rates of chronic illness
• Increased likelihood in engaging in violence

Customs gun violence adversely impacts economical opportunities and exacerbates the weather that fuel gun violence inside already under-resourced neighborhoods.66, 67 When communities experience high rates of gun violence, residents who take the resources motility to safer neighborhoods and housing prices plummet. For instance, a study of gun violence in Minneapolis found that one boosted homicide in a given demography tract was associated with a $22,000 decrease in average abode values.68

Businesses in neighborhoods with high rates of gun violence are too likely to relocate to safer areas where their customers feel safer shopping in public. City-specific analyses found that in DC, for example, 10 additional gunshots in a census tract in a given year were linked to ane fewer new concern opening, one more business organisation closing, and 20 fewer jobs in new establishments that same year.69 A similar analysis in Oakland found that an additional gun homicide each year was related to 5 fewer job opportunities in that neighborhood the subsequent twelvemonth.seventy

Equally residents and businesses move out of high violence communities, metropolis acquirement generated from property and sales taxes decreases. Thus, cities are unable to pay for the public services needed to back up communities living in poverty and facing high rates of violence. The decreased urban center revenue enhancement revenue causes cities to cut funding to schools, social services, and programs that build customs and provide opportunity, even as the demand for these services has increased.

Neighborhoods exposed to increased community gun violence are caught in a cycle of economic disinvestment, diminishing public services, and as a result, further increases in violence. These economic impacts of gun violence drive the weather condition that fuel additional gun violence and full-bodied disadvantage.71

"Gun violence is a multifaceted challenge that demands a holistic set of solutions to end the cycles of daily gun violence in the most impacted communities. Those who are closest to the pain need to exist closest to the power."

- Lauren Footman, Director of Outreach and Equity

Stemming the flow of illegal guns into communities of color is vital to reducing community gun violence. In that location are no federally licensed firearms dealers in many communities most impacted by gun violence, yet there is oftentimes an affluence of firearms. In Washington, DC, for instance, there is one federally licensed firearms dealer for the entire city. Yet, the ATF reported two,095 recovered firearms at crime scenes in 2018 alone and only 43 were traced dorsum to an original purchase in DC.75 The majority of firearms are brought into DC from other states, often past firearm traffickers. These firearm traffickers buy firearms in bulk in states with lax firearm purchasing laws and illegally sell these guns in the underground marketplace. Within merely five months in 2015, one man illegally trafficked 224 guns from Virginia into DC, selling guns out of the body of his rental motorcar to whoever would purchase, and fifty-fifty supplying guns to rivals in an ongoing feud.76 This case illuminates the gaps in federal and state laws that let firearms to be diverted into the hush-hush gun market place.

Gun violence prevention policies that prevent firearms trafficking play an important role in reducing community gun violence. These laws include universal groundwork checks, lost and stolen firearm reporting laws, and firearm licensing laws.

• Universal background checks: Universal background checks crave that a background check be conducted on all firearm sales and transfers. Research suggests that country laws requiring universal background checks reduce the number of guns that enter the illegal market inside a state, which oftentimes fuels gun violence in cities.77 They also are linked to a 29% decrease in crime guns trafficked beyond state lines.Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. The Johns Hopkins University Press.">78
• Lost and stolen firearm reporting laws: Each yr an estimated 380,000 firearms are stolen in the U.S withal simply 240,000 are reported to law enforcement.79, lxxx This suggests that an estimated 140,000 gun thefts are not reported to police force enforcement each year. Laws that crave gun owners to promptly report lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement tin can help prevent firearm trafficking. These laws both increase gun seller accountability and provide police with a tool to combat firearm traffickers. States that have lost and stolen firearm reporting laws were associated with 30% lower rates of criminal offense gun exports to other states compared to states without such laws.Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Assay. The Johns Hopkins University Printing.">81
• Licensing: Firearm licensing laws, as well known as allow to purchase, require an individual to authorize for and obtain a license before acquiring or owning a firearm. The licensing process is similar to obtaining a driver'south license. Individuals generally must fill out an in-person application at the constabulary section, be fingerprinted, and undergo a comprehensive criminal background bank check. Licensing laws are plant to be effective at deterring individuals who commit violent crimes and gun traffickers from obtaining firearms. For case, the repeal of Missouri's licensing police force was associated with the increased diversion of guns into the illegal market.Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis. The Johns Hopkins University Press">82 Research too shows that licensing laws are an effective policy to foreclose firearm homicides. Licensing laws are associated with an 11% reduction in firearm homicides in urban counties.83 Likewise, an analysis of Connecticut's licensing police force found it was associated with a xl% reduction in firearm homicides.84

Stiff gun violence prevention laws, similar firearm licensing laws that require individuals to obtain a license before purchasing a firearm, must be paired with measures to ensure constabulary accountability. In order for police force officers to enforce gun laws in an effective and equitable manner they need to be viewed by community members equally legitimate. Many Black and Brown communities across America are apprehensive to trust law enforcement and often are reluctant to partner with police to human activity as witnesses and prevent violence. Given the long history of state sanctioned violence, racism, and mass incarceration often carried out past the criminal justice system, this reticence is understandable. Policymakers and constabulary departments must piece of work to mend these relationships. They can do this by edifice authentic relationships with communities and enacting police reforms that include:

• Requiring de-escalation before using physical force.
• Creating independent processes to investigate misconduct or excessive use of forcefulness.
• Ensuring police who use excessive force are held answerable for their actions past reforming legal structures, similar qualified immunity, that insulate police from facing sanctions for misconduct.
• Banning the use of chokeholds and other dangerous neck restraints.
• Requiring officers to intervene when excessive strength is used by another officer and immediately report these incidents to superiors.
• Prohibiting no-knock warrants and requiring officers to announce themselves earlier inbound private property.
• Restricting the transfer of military equipment to police and the employ of such equipment by police departments.
• Mandating that constabulary officers utilize deadly strength as a concluding resort just after they have exhausted all other measures.
• Requiring police departments to comprehensively study all apply of forcefulness instances.
• Prohibiting profiling by law enforcement based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, proficiency with the English language, immigration status, and housing condition.
• Vigorously enforcing the Section of Justice's "pattern or practice" authority to investigate and sue police force enforcement agencies that use unconstitutional policing practices.

In improver to adopting these reforms, police departments must work towards adopting procedurally just practices. Procedural justice requires a long-term commitment from law enforcement leaders to institute a civilization in which constabulary come across the customs as authentic partners and respond to the expressed needs of the community. In order for these partnerships to take root there must exist a law enforcement civilisation of transparency and citizen oversight. Customs members should have a phonation in the decision making procedure and decisions should be made in a fair and neutral way.,81 81

When police prefer procedurally just policing techniques to build trust they can more effectively work with community members to solve gun crimes, prevent futurity violence, and co-produce public safety. Witnesses will exist more likely to work with law to bring well-nigh justice to victims and their families and prevent retaliation. Likewise, increased trust promotes intelligence sharing with customs stakeholders to identify those at risk of being involved in gun violence and connect those individuals to behavioral and community support earlier they perpetrate gun violence.

Community-based violence intervention efforts work with those impacted by gun violence to reduce the cycles of community gun violence, address the underlying causes of gun violence, and promote health equity. Community-based violence intervention and prevention programs bring together customs members, social service providers, and, in some cases, police force enforcement to identify and provide support for individuals at highest hazard for gun violence. They also help individuals cope with the trauma that is associated with living in neighborhoods where witnessing gun violence is routine.

Violence intervention and prevention programs generally:

• Deter individuals at loftier risk for violence from engaging in firearm violence
• Assist individuals at high adventure for violence resolve potentially violent disputes before they occur
• Connect those at high risk for violence to didactics, employment, and housing services
• Provide peer mentoring, trauma-informed services, and culturally responsive mental wellness support to individuals impacted past daily gun violence
• Authentically engage community members to build trust and collaboration between stakeholders

Effective Violence Intervention and Prevention Programs

Street Outreach and Violence Interruption Programs

In the street outreach or violence interruption model, outreach workers are trained to identify conflicts within their customs and assist resolve disputes before they screw into gun violence. These outreach workers are credible members of the community and well-respected by individuals at a high risk of violence. Outreach workers use their credibility to interrupt cycles of retaliatory violence, help connect high chance individuals to social services, and alter norms around using guns to solve conflicts.

Evidence: Violence interruption programs, like the Cure Violence model, have been used successfully in multiple cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. New York's neighborhoods with a violence suspension site experienced eighteen% reductions in homicides from 2010-2013 while the matched command neighborhoods experienced a 69% increase during those aforementioned years.85

Group Violence Intervention / Focused Deterrence

In the Group Violence Intervention/Focused Deterrence model, prosecutors and police work with customs leaders to identify a small group of individuals who are chronic violent offenders and are at high risk for future violence. High take chances individuals are called into a meeting and are told that if violence continues, every legal tool available will exist used to ensure they face swift and sure consequences. These individuals are simultaneously continued to social services and community support to assist them in changing their behavior.

Evidence: An analysis of 24 focused deterrence programs plant that these strategies led to an overall statistically significant reduction in firearm violence. The most successful of these programs have reduced vehement criminal offence in cities by an average of thirty% and improved relations between constabulary enforcement officers and the neighborhoods they serve.86

Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs

Infirmary-based violence intervention programs provide gunshot victims admitted into hospitals with wraparound services such as educational support, job training, and culturally responsive mental health services to interrupt retaliatory cycles of violence and reduce the potential for re-injury.

Show: One study found that those enrolled in these programs were six times less likely to be hospitalized over again for a violent injury and iv times less likely to be convicted of a vehement crime than those not enrolled in the program.87 Also, an evaluation of Baltimore's program institute that it saved the urban center $i.25 million in lowered incarceration costs and $598,000 in reduced healthcare costs.88

Trauma-informed Programs With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Trauma-informed programs that apply cerebral behavioral therapy for those at risk for firearm violence have experienced pregnant decreases in firearm violence.89 Cognitive behavioral therapy helps high gamble individuals cope with trauma while simultaneously providing new tools to de-escalate disharmonize.

Testify: Trauma-informed programs in Chicago that provide high risk youth with cognitive behavioral therapy and mentoring cutting tearing crime arrests in half.ninety

Shooting And Homicide Review Commissions

Shooting review commissions bring together law enforcement, customs members, criminal justice stakeholders, and service providers to examine firearm violence within their community. Stakeholders collaboratively develop comprehensive interventions that place high take a chance individuals and address the underlying factors that atomic number 82 to violence.

Testify: The shooting review commission in Milwaukee was associated with a meaning and sustained 52% reduction in homicides.91 A Department of Justice evaluation plant shooting review boards to be an effective manner to reduce gun violence past building trust between criminal justice stakeholders and the community.92

Comprehensive Investments in Violence Intervention and Prevention Programs

Numerous studies accept found that when properly funded and implemented, community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts reduce gun violence. For instance, Connecticut's country-funded group violence intervention program was associated with a 21% subtract in shootings in New Oasis each month that the program was in effect.93 These programs are virtually effective when cities invest in comprehensive intervention and prevention efforts that engage a wide range of city stakeholders and community leaders. The City of Oakland, for example, used both state and city funds to invest in comprehensive community-based gun violence intervention and prevention efforts to reduce gun violence by over 40%.94 These efforts were authentically led by community members, provided extensive wraparound services, and focused on improving relationships between the community and law enforcement.

Community groups in cities across the United states authentically appoint in community-based violence prevention efforts and have done so for years. Yet only recently have state governments begun to seriously invest in these efforts. Five states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New York) take invested in violence intervention and prevention programs and accept experienced reductions in firearm violence within state-funded plan sites.95 3 boosted states (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) accept recently invested in these programs.96

In addition to this state investment, many cities accept begun funding customs-based violence prevention efforts. For example, Los Angeles, New York Metropolis, and Oakland all allocate over $twenty million each year towards violence intervention and prevention efforts, collaborating with a diversity of city agencies and community partners.97 In addition to these major city investments, mid-sized cities across the United States accept begun allocating funds towards violence intervention and prevention efforts. This includes cities like Kansas City, Milwaukee, New Orleans, and St Louis.98

Federal Funding for Trauma Informed Care

In 2016, the Substance Corruption and Mental Wellness Services Administration (SAMHSA) created a grants programme aimed at supporting communities exposed to high rates of community gun violence and ceremonious unrest. This programme was chosen the Resiliency in Communities Later on Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) grants program and it provided millions of federal dollars to "to assist high-risk youth and families and promote resilience and equity in communities that have recently faced ceremonious unrest through implementation of evidence-based, violence prevention, and community youth engagement programs, as well equally linkages to trauma-informed behavioral wellness services."108 Unfortunately, these grants are no longer available. At that place should be sustained federal grants programs, like ReCAST, that provide funding for trauma informed behavioral health services to help individuals and communities cope with the trauma of community gun violence.

Address the underlying social and economic inequalities that drive firearm violence

Underserved communities of colour have been impacted by a legacy of racist social and economic policy. Policymakers should support efforts to address these systemic inequalities that are often at the root of gun violence. These investments will help improve health, promote opportunity, and reduce gun violence. These investments should include:

• Job training programs and youth evolution opportunities: Testify suggests increased funding for job training programs and youth employment opportunities tin help reduce gun violence.99 For example, an evaluation of Boston'south summertime youth employment program, which provides city-subsidized jobs to youth through a lottery system, plant that participants were 35% less likely to engage in violence in the xv months later the plan'due south end compared to similar individuals who were not called through the lottery and thus non enrolled in the jobs program.100
• Recreation and customs centers, after school programs, and other pro-social development programs: Increased funding for recreation and customs centers, afterwards schoolhouse programs, and other pro-social development programs allow individuals to build stronger, safer communities by providing safe places for individuals — especially youth — to collaborate. Close to half of all juvenile crime takes identify from 2:00 PM to viii:00 PM.101 When individuals have safety and productive places to go afterward school, they are less likely to commit — or be a victim of — an deed of violence. For instance, ane study establish that under-resourced neighborhoods that had admission to a recreation heart had lower violent criminal offense rates than like neighborhoods without recreation centers.102
• Programs that clean and rehabilitate blighted and abandoned holding: Funding for programs that clean and rehabilitate fated and abandoned property are associated with both decreases in gun violence of up to 39% over ane year and improved community health.102 These programs prevent gun violence by reducing the locations where illegal guns are stored and ofttimes where illegal activity linked to gun violence occurs. Likewise, these programs increase the connectedness between neighbors and strengthen the informal social controls that deter violence.
• Affordable, stable, and loftier quality housing: Improved access and availability to affordable, stable, and high quality housing is needed for individuals impacted past daily gun violence. Adequate housing is closely linked to gun violence. Neighborhoods where there are high foreclosure rates, vacant homes, and housing instability are more than likely to experience community gun violence.104 Programs and policies that provide stable housing for returning citizens, revitalize vacant lots, prevent foreclosures, and create affordable pathways to homeownership can help reduce customs gun violence.105
• Affordable health and mental health services that are culturally responsive and trauma informed: Access to affordable health care, including robust mental health services, is needed to support individuals experiencing trauma. Trauma informed health services can help improve wellness, wellbeing, and address risk factors for future violence.106 While there are evidence-based treatments to support those exposed to gun violence, individuals in impacted communities often lack access to these vital mental wellness services.107 These services should be made widely available within communities suffering from the trauma of community gun violence.

Recommendations

Enact and implement policies, programs, and practices that reduce easy admission to firearms by people at elevated take chances of interpersonal violence and invest in interventions that address the root causes of gun violence in structurally disadvantaged communities.

Laws that reduce easy admission to firearms for people at risk of violence are associated with reductions in community violence. Additionally, addressing the root causes of gun violence through community-based gun violence prevention programs is an important role of community gun violence prevention. Nosotros recommend the following policies, programs, and practices to prevent community gun violence:

• Customs-based gun violence prevention programs: Community-based violence prevention programs that interrupt cycles of violence and provide a wide range of social services to address the root causes of gun violence are essential to preventing shootings in communities impacted by daily gun violence. Federal, country, and local policymakers should invest in such programs equally part of violence prevention efforts. Examples include:
  • Street outreach and violence pause programs
  • Group Violence Intervention/ Focused deterrence
  • Hospital-based violence intervention programs
  • Trauma-informed programs that employ cerebral behavioral therapy
  • Shooting review commissions
• Supporting customs economical evolution: Social and economic inequalities are often at the root of gun violence. Supporting sustainable community economic evolution volition help improve health, promote opportunity, and reduce gun violence. Federal, country and local policymakers should pass legislation to promote and adequately fund:
  • Chore training programs and youth development opportunities
  • Recreation and customs centers, subsequently school programs, and other pro-social development programs
  • Programs that clean and rehabilitate blighted and abandoned property
  • Affordable, stable, and loftier quality housing
  • Affordable health and mental health services that are culturally responsive and trauma informed
• Offices of violence prevention: Cities and counties take the ability to effectively reduce violence through the creation of an role of violence prevention. These agencies create a comprehensive plan to reduce violence, often past connecting a variety of city agencies, engaging with community stakeholders, and allocating urban center funds to community-based violence prevention programs. Offices of violence prevention are an essential component in ensuring that community-based efforts to reduce gun violence take the resources and technical support to effectively reduce violence. States and localities should create offices of violence prevention.
• Trauma informed care: Trauma informed care recognizes and responds to the impact of trauma, emphasizing physical, psychological, and emotional safety, while promoting empowerment and healing. Trauma informed care helps individuals and communities cope with the trauma of community gun violence. Federal, country, and local policymakers should pass legislation to promote and fairly fund trauma informed practices across public agencies including in education, law enforcement, and social services.
• Supporting communities impacted by gun violence through federal grant funding:
  • Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA) funding: VOCA funds are designed to recoup victims of violence and to fund organizations that provide assistance to victims. To appointment, these funds accept been underutilized to back up victims of community gun violence. VOCA funds can be used to support a wide range of vital services such equally infirmary-based violence intervention programs, community-based violence prevention programs, and mental health services for those exposed to trauma. States should utilise their federal VOCA funds to provide services and compensation specifically to victims of community gun violence. They can exercise this by easing eligibility requirements, providing education and technical assist to notify individuals and organizations that qualify for VOCA funds, and providing back up to utilize for the funds.
  • Agency of Justice Assistance (BJA) funding: The U.S. Department of Justice'due south Bureau of Justice Assistance offers funding for states and localities to back up a range of public condom initiatives through Project Safe Neighborhoods and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG). Both Project Safe Neighborhoods and JAG provide states and localities significant discretion on how the funding tin can be used, yet the majority of these funds become to police departments. States and localities should utilise these existing funding streams to back up customs-based violence intervention and prevention efforts.
  • Other Federal Agencies: Other federal agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Assistants (SAMHSA), the Section of Education (DOE) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) should make federal funding available for programs that reduce community gun violence or that address the root causes of customs gun violence.
• Reporting lost and stolen firearms: Lost and stolen reporting laws require individuals to written report the loss or theft of their firearm to police enforcement, who then enter the information into an FBI firearms database. Lost and stolen reporting laws help reduce the flow of illegal firearms by identifying gun traffickers and helping to recover lost and stolen guns faster, thereby reducing interstate gun trafficking and vehement crime. States should enact lost and stolen reporting laws.
• Universal background checks with licensing: Universal groundwork checks crave a background check on all firearm sales and transfers. Without universal background checks, it is far too easy for prohibited purchasers to learn firearms. Requiring background checks on all gun sales helps to reduce firearms trafficking. Groundwork checks should be required on every gun sale and transfer in the United States, including private and online sales. Encounter Universal Background Checks for more than information. Universal background checks are found to be most effective when administered through a firearms licensing system. Licensing laws, also called permit-to-buy laws, require individuals to obtain a license or permit before purchasing a firearm. These laws vary from land to state, but in add-on to a background check, may crave an in-person application, safety training, fingerprints, and a waiting menstruation. Research has found that these laws are effective at reducing homicides, suicides, and firearms trafficking. States should enact licensing laws and continuously monitor and evaluate these laws to ensure equitable implementation.
• Microstamping: Microstamping technology imprints microscopic identification codes on bullet cartridge casings when the weapon is fired; these codes represent with the firearm'southward series number and enable law enforcement to match cartridges found at criminal offense scenes direct to the gun that fired them without recovering the firearm itself. Microstamping has the power to help law enforcement solve shootings, interrupt cycles of violence, and ultimately preclude future shootings. Microstamping should be required in new semi-automatic pistols.
• Lethal ways rubber counseling and infirmary based violence intervention programs:
  • Lethal ways safety counseling is an evidence-based healthcare intervention that is effective in preventing firearm injury and can be used to help prevent homicides. Lethal ways safety counseling helps healthcare providers work collaboratively with at-hazard patients and their families to temporarily reduce access to firearms until the elevated adventure subsides. Healthcare professionals should be trained on lethal means safety counseling as an injury prevention intervention. All patients should be asked about firearm access and provided safer storage information. See Lethal Means Safety Counseling for more information.
  • Gunshot victims who are admitted to hospitals should receive further support through hospital-based violence intervention programs. These evidence-based programs provide survivors of gun violence with wraparound services such as educational support, job training, and culturally responsive mental health services to interrupt retaliatory cycles of violence and reduce the potential for re-injury.
• Meliorate nonfatal firearm injury data: Potent data is the foundation of the public health arroyo. Robust and accurate nonfatal injury data is greatly needed to meliorate understand nonfatal firearm injury and develop effective interventions for customs violence. The number of hospitals included in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance Organisation (NEISS) database should be expanded, the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) information should be incorporated into the CDC's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting Organisation (WISQARS) database to accommodate the electric current online guess, and a nonfatal shooting category should be added to the FBI's Compatible Offense Reporting program. Encounter  Nonfatal Firearm Injuries for more information.

Resource

Educational Materials

Fact sheets

• Firearm Homicide in the The states
• Funding Community-Based Violence Prevention
• The Root Causes of Gun Violence
• Female Homicide in the Usa
• COVID-19 and its Impact on Communities of Colour
• Police Reform, Legitimacy, and Community Violence

Read More

• June 2020 press release, Congressional action on policing reform
• June 2020 press release, CSGV responds to unrest in Minneapolis and the arrest in killing of George Floyd
• April 2020 web log in Youth Today, Communities of Color Must Be Centered in Gun Violence Prevention Movement
• November 2019 blog, Twenty-four hours-to-Day Gun Violence Deserves Our Attention
• September 2019 press release, A historic hearing on gun violence in our cities
• July 2019 press release, Governor Ralph Northam announces grant funding for community violence intervention programs
• December 2018 op-ed in The Hill, Five gun violence prevention priorities for the incoming Congress
• Nov 2017 op-ed in The Colina, The path forward for Democrats starts with gun violence prevention

Inquiry

• Abt T. (2019). Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence—and a Assuming New Plan for Peace in the Streets. Bones Books.
• Azrael D, Braga AA, & O'Brien M. (2012). ​Developing the capacity to understand and prevent homicide: An evaluation of the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission. ​U.Due south. Department of Justice.
• Bieler S, Kijakazi One thousand, La Vigne Due north, Vinik N, & Overton S. (2016). Engaging communities in reducing gun violence . Urban Constitute, Joint Middle for Political and Economic Studies, and Joyce Foundation.
• Braga AA, Weisburd D, & Turchan B. (2018). Focused deterrence strategies and crime control: An updated systematic review and meta‐analysis of the empirical evidence. Criminology & Public Policy.
• Crifasi CK, Merrill-Francis M, McCourt A, Vernick JS, Wintemute GJ, & Webster DW. (2018). Association between firearm laws and homicide in urban counties. Journal of Urban Health.
• Crifasi CK, Buggs SAL, Haul MD, Webster DW, & Sherman SG. (2020). Baltimore's underground gun market: Availability of and admission to guns. Violence and Gender.
• Jacoby SF, Dong B, Beard JH, Wieb DJ, & Morrison CN. (2018). The enduring touch on of historical and structural racism on urban violence in Philadelphia. Social Scientific discipline & Medicine.
• Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW, & Earls F. (1997). Neighborhoods and trigger-happy crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science.
• Wical W, Richardson J, & Bullock C. (2020). A credible messenger: The function of the violence intervention specialist in the lives of young blackness male survivors of violence. Violence and Gender.
• Wilson WJ. (2012). The truly disadvantaged: The inner metropolis, the underclass, and public policy. University of Chicago Press.

Additional Resource

• Cure Violence
• Healing Justice Brotherhood
• Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research (JHCGPR)
• National Network for Safe Communities
• Prevention Institute: Health Disinterestedness in Violence Prevention
• Academy of Chicago Crime Lab

Concluding updated February 2021

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Source: https://efsgv.org/learn/type-of-gun-violence/community-gun-violence/

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