Reimagining Justice This Month highlights stories about effective responses to violence – responses that disrupt cycles of violence, heal trauma, and address structural racism.
What Happened to Crime in Camden?, CityLab
Five years ago, the police department in Camden, NJ was disbanded, reimagined, and born again with fewer officers, lower pay, and a strategic shift toward community policing. In 2017, they had their lowest homicide rate since the 1980s.
‘Bold step’: King County to look at youth crime as public-health risk, The Seattle Times
King County, WA, home of Seattle, announced that its Juvenile Detention Services will aim to create a “trauma-informed” approach to incarcerated youth. The ultimate goal is zero youth incarceration: “Credible research suggests that we can reduce crime by bringing a rehabilitative, public health approach to juvenile justice.”
‘Interrupters’ Peek at Social Media to Stop Street Violence, The New York Times
True2Life, a Cure Violence team in Staten Island, is monitoring social media for threats of violence in order to identify conflicts and stop them before they escalate. These “Interrupters” build relationships and try to steer people away from violence before cycles of trauma can take hold.
Christen Smith on How Trauma from Police Violence Is Killing Black Women, Democracy Now
In a video interview, University of Texas at Austin professor Christen Smith discusses the long-term affects that violence at the hands of police can have, particularly on women of color. “When we think of police lethality, we typically consider the immediate body count: The people that die from bullets and baton blows… But these numbers do not reveal the slow death that black women experience. The long-range trauma police brutality causes can be as deadly as a bullet.”
Redemption for Offenders and Victims, The American Prospect
Restorative justice initiatives continue to spread in cities and states across the nation as judges, prosecutors, survivors, and those who have committed harm seek alternatives to traditional punishments and sentencing. In Boston, one such program is called RISE – Repair, Invest, Succeed, Emerge – and it’s designed to offer people a second chance after they have committed harm.
After Von Maur shooting, Omaha police officers struggled under weight of emotional wounds, Omaha World Herald
Police officers experience trauma, both in their day-to-day duties and in rare situations like mass shootings. Ten years after a mass shooting in Omaha, police there look back on how they supported officers and how systems for addressing trauma have changed, just in the last decade.
Healing from the trauma of crime takes action, Tallahassee Democrat
Miles Mulrain, Jr., a crime survivor and community organizer for Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, argues that in order to prevent violence, there is need for investments in trauma recovery centers, mental health treatment, and drug rehabilitation.
