David Kennedy, Author Of 'Don't Shoot,' Says He Has A Cure For Inner-City Gang Violence (VIDEO)

WATCH: A Cure For Inner-City Violence?

Finding a way to end gang violence is as easy as offering gang members a "way out."

At least according to David Kennedy, author of "Don't Shoot" and the man behind Operation Ceasefire, a long-running program intended to curb inner-city violence.

Kennedy says many gang members are "scared to death themselves, they just don't know a way out."

To reduce gang violence, cities need to give gang members an alternative, he claims. They can start by identifying the gangs and bringing together communities, social service groups and law enforcement organizations.

"You sit the gang members down you say, 'Your community needs you to stop, we want to help you, and the next gang that kills somebody gets all of our attention,'" said Kennedy.

"It actually turns out to be not that hard to fix this stuff."

Kennedy says his strategies have lead to a 35 percent reduction in gang-related killings in Chicago, a drop in the citywide homicide rate of between 50 and 60 percent in Boston and a decline in homicides in the "hardest hit" neighborhoods of Minneapolis of between 60 and 70 percent.

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