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

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.

Comments

[gmassanek]

09:37 PM on 10/06/2011

Another video of David talking about Don't Shoot with John Seabrook - definitely worth a watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGYl0c3xmNU

[intellectualTradition]

05:10 PM on 10/01/2011

it all starts with a good haircut

[penndl]

02:52 PM on 09/30/2011

He makes a lot of sense. It isn't that hard. Finding alternatives to gang violence over pennies and stupidity is too easy. There are so many better ways to make a living. This is what leadership is responsible for. The problem and solution is obvious. It makes you wonder why they, the political powers that be, seem so hesitant to act. Poeticjustice4all just may be right, hope not.

[poeticjustice4all]

12:25 PM on 09/30/2011

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

True. But as long as young people of color are mostly killing other young people of color -- the authorities don't see anything that needs fixed.

[penndl]

02:42 PM on 09/30/2011

What "authority" is responsible for stopping violence? There is no Department of Peace Assurance. I'm not trying to criticize, it's just that I think Mr. Kennedy's approach has great value. Just yesterday I drove by a street corner memorial for a young man, one of the memorial items was a very large card with possibly more than a hundred signatures. No one wanted that life to be taken. Just imagine if Mr. Kennedy's strategy takes effect. It's possible that in 5-10 years or less, that kind of violence will be a thing of the past.

[poeticjustice4all]

07:20 PM on 09/30/2011

What "authority­" is responsibl­e for stopping violence? . . . The individual human, in his or her own natural authorization upon waking up in the morning -- feeling the warm sunshine, and basically coming down on the side of "okay, I won't kill anybody."

We have to press forward in a "survival of the fittest" type mentality. If people in certain neighborhoods want to eliminate themselves -- then, that suits the "powers that be" just fine.

We have had four or five young Black men murdered in my neighborhood this month. I actually don't even know. I have lost count.

And now there is the inevitable association of the Black, male culture with prison -- prison culture -- and the bizarre, dark constellation of personal and social issues prison life represents.

We are, as they say, living beneath our privilege. It's heavy on my heart today. We are living beneath our privilege.

[HenryBemis]

11:09 AM on 10/02/2011

The de facto motto of the police is "To protect and serve". not "To catch people only after crime is commited".

You are correct, Mr Kennedy's approach has proven to be very succesful. I have read about it in much greater depth and it seems more bassed on negotiation and intense pressure -meaning attention and time; man-hours, which is what the initial comment refered to.
While his method does seem to have been proven very effective, it is not put in place in many cities because the authorities find it easy to let minorities (or actually more acurately the poor, not only the minorities) just keep killing each other until the violence begins to effect more of the city.

[phylliscooper1]

06:19 PM on 10/01/2011

My heart cries out for any young life lost. So much potential has been and is being lost in this country due to violence. If the authorities don't care, shame on them. I do believe that regular people care and are hurting because of it. We, the people, need to stop categorizing ourselves and realize we are all in this together. A good start is to let the children, adolescents, teens and young adults how much they are loved and valued. We need to make their homes a refuge.