Jeff Butts, a sociologist at John Jay College who led a study in New York, told me that interrupter programs are fundamentally difficult to assess — it’s hard to know whether a decline in shootings in an area is due to the interrupters or to all the other factors at play. Continue reading ProPublica — Can Community Programs Help Slow the Rise in Violence?
Understanding what work is being done, anything that lets researchers “pull back the curtain,” is important, said Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Continue reading Baltimore Sun — After killings of 3 workers, Baltimore’s Safe Streets anti-violence program at a crossroads: ‘We have to continue to evolve’
As the city added more Cure Violence programs in pre-pandemic years, gun violence and deaths declined, said Sheyla Delgado, the deputy director of analytics at John Jay’s Research and Evaluation Center. “Can we say that is solely due to the appearance of these programs? Absolutely not,” Delgado said. “But they’re certainly a factor to consider.” Continue reading NY1— Shootings Rise in Bronx, Fall in Brooklyn, as Anti-gun Efforts Start
A number of cities have implemented or adapted Cure Violence’s strategies to address gun violence in their communities. But to what end? … A 2020 report by John Jay College on alternatives to policing notes that the work of outreach workers and violence interrupters is “promising but mixed.” Continue reading Time Magazine — A New Study Casts Doubt on One of the Country’s Most Popular Violence Prevention Approaches
The key, we heard over and over again, is to have cops work in tandem with community-based “violence interrupters” — credible messengers from troubled communities who have the savvy and connections to quietly intervene at critical moments and persuade gang members, dope dealers, and other weapon-carriers not to resort to violence. Continue reading New York Magazine — The Risks of Overselling Violence Interruption
Jeffrey Butts, who runs the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College, says setting up cure violence programs in a way that generates evidence of what methods work to reduce shootings will be essential going forward… Continue reading The City — Adams Anti-Gun Blueprint Puts ‘Cure Violence’ Groups Center Stage
