New York City’s Cure Violence programs found shootings and gun injuries dropped in two neighborhoods where such programs were in place between 2013 and 2017, according to an evaluation led by Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Sheyla Delgado, deputy director of analytics for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center, has studied Cure Violence programs in New York City for the past decade and says they do improve public safety.
What has led to the historic rise in gun violence and what can be done about it? KGW Investigates spent the last two months talking to families, law enforcement officers, and community leaders to try and answer those questions. Everyone we spoke to agreed on two things: the pandemic has played a significant role and long-term solutions will require investment in communities.
Jeffrey Butts: “Researchers can at least eliminate possible explanations. So, you can look at data and test hypotheses. One hypothesis that has been around (you alluded to it) is that it’s somehow related to Defunding the Police. So, there have been researchers who have looked at police budgets, and changes from year to year… and there’s really no relationship there.”
“Our public safety strategies have to be comprehensive and innovative and not just focused on the police,” said Sheyla Delgado, a deputy director for analytics at the Research & Evaluation Center.
An evaluation from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that a Cure Violence program in New York reduced gun injuries by almost 40 percent…
