Violence interruption

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Violence interruption is a community-based approach to reducing communal and interpersonal violence that treats violence as a public health problem.[1][2] This type of model was created by the organization Cure Violence Global. Individuals providing violence interruption services are known as violence interrupters.[3] Techniques used include mediation and measures to address underlying causes of violence such as poverty.[citation needed] These mediations are usually between rival gangs. The violence interrupters are people who have lived experience and usually come from the neighborhoods they work in. Maintaining respect and trust from the community is of the utmost importance to foster strong relationships with the individuals who are being served so that they maintain their credibility as messengers. They also help these individuals access services that can address the underlying root causes of an individual's actions. For example, job training and job placement.[4] The initiatives use a public health model to prevent violence and crime by treating them as diseases.[2] As of 2018 initiatives were in place in Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and other US cities, as well as in London and Glasgow.[2][3]

Violence interruption is distinct from law enforcement as an approach to ending violence, although the two approaches can sometimes be regarded as complementary to one another.[2] The component that makes this strategy so successful is the community partner agencies and the interrupters themselves.[5]

The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) is a network of hospital-based violence intervention programs that cultivate relationships between the hospitals and community social service agencies to provide resources and services to victims of gun violence.[6] Oakland California implemented a hospital-based violence intervention program to conduct research and assess the effectiveness of this model of violence intervention. The participants were predominantly Black and Latino youth between the ages of 12 to 20 years old. Youth that had received an intervention at the hospital were less likely to be arrested for any offenses by 70% and less likely to continue committing crimes by 60%.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, violence interrupters helped encourage social distancing, hand washing, and other measures to limit viral spread and helped distribute food and supplies in the areas they served.[8][9][10]

History

Originally developed under the name "CeaseFire" in 2000, U.S. epidemiologist Gary Slutkin launched the model in West Garfield, the most violent community in Chicago at the time.[11] During CeaseFire's first year, shootings dropped by 67 percent. CeaseFire received additional funding from the State of Illinois in 2004 to immediately expand from 5 to 15 communities and from 20 to 80 outreach workers.[citation needed]

A three-year evaluation of the Chicago implementation by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2009 found shootings and killings were reduced by 41 percent to 73 percent, shooting hot spots were reduced in size and intensity, and retaliatory murders were eliminated. "A striking finding was how important CeaseFire loomed in their lives", the researchers stated in the report. "Clients noted the importance of being able to reach their outreach worker at critical moments—when they were tempted to resume taking drugs, were involved in illegal activities, or when they felt that violence was imminent."[12] The lead evaluator commented that, "I found the statistical results to be as strong as you could hope for."[13]

In response to the Chicago results, federal funding for the approach was made available in 2008 and new programs were started in Baltimore and New York City, which were also evaluated and found to be effective.[14] The US State Department also funded a pilot program in Basr and Sadr City, Iraq, which was operational from 2008 to 2013 and conducted nearly 1,000 conflict mediations.[15]

CeaseFire was reorganized and changed its name to Cure Violence in September 2012.[16] Cure Violence now refers to the larger organization and overall health approach, while local program partner sites often operate under other names. In December, 2015, Cure Violence has 23 cities implementing the Cure Violence health approach in over 50 sites in the U.S. International program partner sites are operating in Trinidad, Honduras, Mexico, South Africa, Canada and Colombia.

Model

Cure Violence's founder and executive director, Gary Slutkin, is an epidemiologist and a physician who for ten years battled infectious diseases in Africa. He says that violence directly mimics infections like tuberculosis and AIDS, thus the treatment ought to follow the regimen applied to these diseases: go after the most infected, and stop the infection at its source.[17]

Cure Violence approaches violence in an entirely new way:[18] as a contagious disease that can be stopped using the same health strategies employed to fight epidemics. The Cure Violence model trains and deploys outreach workers and violence interrupters to mitigate conflict on the street before it turns violent.[19] These interrupters are credible messengers, trusted members of the communities served, who use their street credibility to model and teach community members better ways of communicating with each other and how to resolve conflicts peacefully.[20]

Cure Violence follows a three-pronged health approach to violence prevention: detection and interruption of planned violent activity, behavior change of high-risk individuals, and changing community norms.[21]

Members of the community with credibility among the target population are hired and trained in the methods of mediation and behavior change and work to stop retribution from occurring or violence being created due to lack of communication and tense situations. One volunteer was interviewed for a BBC article and stated she defused situations by arranging funerals, bringing food, talking to and distracting los que los jalan (the leaders), bringing in community leaders, and stepping in at hospitals and rental complexes.[22]

The Cure Violence method has been promoted by the Institute of Medicine, the National League of Cities, U.S. Conference of Mayors, Department of Justice and was described in the Economist as "the approach that will come to prominence."[14]

The Interrupters (2011 documentary)

The Interrupters is a film, produced in 2011 by Kartemquin Films, that documents the story of three CeaseFire outreach workers. It was directed and produced by Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams and also produced by Alex Kotlowitz, an author who first wrote about the organization for the New York Times Magazine in 2009. The film emphasizes the notion that much of the violence on the streets results from interpersonal conflict, rather than from gang-related disputes.

The film follows three interrupters—Ameena Matthews, Cobe Williams and Eddie Bocanegra. Ameena, the daughter of Jeff Fort—a major gang leader in the 1970s—spent time as a teen involved in a gang, and now takes to the streets to keep youths from doing the same. Ricardo "Cobe" Williams did three stints in jail for attempted murder and drug-related charges, and Eddie Bocanegra served 14 years in jail for a murder he committed at age 17.

The film premiered at 2011 Sundance. It aired as a PBS Frontline broadcast in February 2012.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Violence Interrupters Are Trying To Prevent People From Resorting To 'Desperate Measures'". Guns & America. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  2. ^ a b c d Mackintosh, Thomas (2018-09-21). "The city curing violence like a disease". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  3. ^ a b Hermann, Peter (December 14, 2018). "He used to sell drugs on D.C. streets. Now he's paid to make them safer". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-06-09.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Whitehill, Jennifer M.; Webster, Daniel W.; Frattaroli, Shannon; Parker, Elizabeth M. (2014-02-01). "Interrupting Violence: How the CeaseFire Program Prevents Imminent Gun Violence through Conflict Mediation". Journal of Urban Health. 91 (1): 84–95. doi:10.1007/s11524-013-9796-9. ISSN 1468-2869. PMC 3907621. PMID 23440488.
  5. ^ https://i0.wp.com/johnjayrec.nyc/wp-content/uploads/0214/03/figure-1_commonelements.jpg?ssl=1 [bare URL image file]
  6. ^ "The HAVI — Our History". The HAVI. Retrieved 2021-05-10.
  7. ^ Becker, Marla G.; Hall, Jeffery S.; Ursic, Caesar M.; Jain, Sonia; Calhoun, Deane (March 2004). "Redirecting". Journal of Adolescent Health. 34 (3): 177–183. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2003.04.001. PMID 14967340.
  8. ^ "Fearing Unmet Needs Will Fuel Crime, Violence Interrupters Offer Food And Support". WAMU. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  9. ^ Southall, Ashley (2020-05-22). "Police Face Backlash Over Virus Rules. Enter 'Violence Interrupters.'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  10. ^ "On The West Side, Violence Interrupters Have A New Message: Wash Your Hands". Block Club Chicago. 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  11. ^ Chamberlin, Jamie (June 2011). "Cease fire". Monitor on Psychology. American Psychological Association.
  12. ^ "CeaseFire: A Public Health Approach to Reduce Shootings and Killings".
  13. ^ Kotlowitz, Alex (May 4, 2008). "If Gang Shootings And Revenge Killing Were An Infectious Disease, How Would You Stop It? A Chicago Epidemiologist Thinks He Has The Answer." New York Times Magazine. via Cure Violence.
  14. ^ a b "Our Impact". Cure Violence. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  15. ^ https://cvg.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CV_International_v18_Eng.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  16. ^ Melanie Eversley (September 13, 2012). "CeaseFire changes name to CureViolence". USA Today.
  17. ^ Kotlowitz, Alex (May 4, 2008). "Blocking the Transmission of Violence". New York Times Magazine.
  18. ^ "What We Do". Cure Violence. Retrieved 2021-11-24.
  19. ^ "CeaseFire: The Campaign to Stop the Shooting". DeSantis Breindel YouTube.
  20. ^ McCracken, Kristin (August 3, 2011). "Violence, Interrupted: Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz on The Interrupters". Huffington Post.
  21. ^ Khan, Sheema (July 21, 2011). "Why we need a CeaseFire". The Globe and Mail. Toronto.
  22. ^ Gonzalez, Ana Lucia (2018-04-25). "Helping teens where shootings are 'normal'". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
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