The National Network's approach has attracted significant media attention over twenty years. This page features the most recent coverage of our work and a searchable archive of media about the National Network's projects around the nation and abroad.
The National Network convenes regular conferences, working sessions and webinars to discuss and promote developments in its core areas of operation, showcase innovations, and set research and development priorities.
The shooting and death of unarmed African-American teen Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson have sparked racial tensions and a nationwide debate on the legitimacy and fairness of police practices. Urban Institute’s Dr. Nancy LaVigne speaks to the Georgetown Public Policy Review about how criminal justice research aligns with the recent events in Ferguson.
The Cincinnati Police Department's officers are trained to focus on individuals with a history rather than peppering entire groups of people with random questions. The tactic, based on the federal court’s guiding principle of “bias-free policing,” was embraced by neighborhood officers after David Kennedy helped launch Cincinnati's Initiative to Reduce Violence in 2007.
Congratulations to the community arm of High Point's longstanding effort, High Point Community Against Violence, who was presented with the FBI Director's award for community outreach and leadership in the area of crime prevention, community engagement and education. An organization in each state is recognized annually, and HPCAV was the North Carolina statewide recipient of this award. The official announcement presentation will take place in Washington, DC in early 2015.
In this podcast, David Morton recommends David Kennedy’s book, Don’t Shoot, and discusses his recent experience as a third-party observer during one of Chattanooga’s Violence Reduction Initiative call-ins.
High Point's Offender-Focused Domestic Violence Initiative (OFDVI) gives offenders a clear message from law enforcement and the community that the violence must stop, a major shift from traditional domestic violence responses that place the onus on the victim to report the abuse and testify about it in court. Says Kennedy of the approach, "The feedback from the women is, 'You've got his attention. Things are better. Keep it up, and keep me out of it.'"
During the American Justice Summit hosted at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CBS News' Michelle Miller spoke with Equal Justice Initiative director Bryan Stevenson, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and director David Kennedy about breaking the cycle of violence. Since implementing GVI with NOLA 4 LIFE, the homicide rate citywide in New Orleans has dropped 20 percent, to the lowest level the city has seen in 30 years.
David Kennedy writes in the Times Free Press outlining why Chattanooga VRI was developed and urging the city to stay dedicated to the strategy. "It remains the best—if still an imperfect—route to preventing violence and incarceration among those most likely to be touched by both; helping law enforcement to do their job in a way that does not harm, and instead strengthens the communities they serve; and supporting the community to step forward, stand together with law enforcement, and reset its own public safety standards," Kennedy says. "We have yet to see a city where this has been done well and the streets have not responded--if not immediately, then sooner rather than later. Chattanooga is, and will be, no different."
In light of continuing tensions in Ferguson, MO, the COPS Office of DOJ recently held a 2 day training for area police that includes lessons on how police can acknowledge, identify and filter implicit racial bias. MSNBC's Trymaine Lee discusses the training and highlights the DOJ’s National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, which the National Network is leading. “The ultimate goal is to get people to see that the issue of implicit racial bias is real and a part of human behavior,” said Ron Davis, director of the COPS Office. “If it becomes too cut and dry you talk about people being racist, people get really defensive because nobody wants to be called a racist.”
At the International Association of Chief of Police Conference in Orlando this year, the National Network conducted panels on custom notifications and street level enforcement with our partners from Chicago, Philadelphia, and High Point. And in his opening address, Attorney General Eric Holder reiterated the importance of the new National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice in repairing relationships between minority communities and the criminal justice system: “We do ourselves a disservice if we dismiss, or fail to address, the conditions and lingering tensions that exist just beneath the surface in so many places across the country – and that were brought to the surface, and raised to the urgent attention of this group and others, by this summer’s events in Ferguson, Missouri."
Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, a coalition comprised of prosecutors from 30 major cities held it's first meeting late October in Atlanta to share expertise and best practices to combat gun-related issues surrounding group violence, domestic abuse, and mental health. "The coalition aims to build on what Manhattan District Attorney's Office Cyrus Vance (Prosecutors Against Gun Violence co-chairman) believes is a common denominator: 'Everybody believes that people should not be victimized by gun violence.'"
A new report by John Jay College of Criminal Justice President Jeremy Travis and Professor Preeti Chauhan has found that New York’s crime is down to historic lows; felony arrests have dropped in half; and yet the rate of misdemeanor arrests has tripled, acutely impacting young men of color. The National Network believes this report gives a clear picture of the type of low level police activity that often increases friction between police and minority communities. This friction creates a profound imperative to enact strategies that promote fair, procedurally just policing, and foster racial reconciliation between police and communities. These are the priorities of both the National Network’s violence interventions and the new DOJ’s new National Initiative that we are leading.
A neighborhood in East Austin notorious for crime, prostitution and drug-dealing, is looking a lot different these days, partly due to APD's Drug Market Intervention launched 2 years ago.
City officials unveiled a new strategy for combating domestic violence in New Orleans, a plan that amounts to a set of policies and procedures for dealing with domestic abuse cases in ways designed to head off the threat of serious violence. It includes instructions and training for everyone from 911 operators to police officers, prosecutors, judges and jailers.
A new group called Prosecutors Against Gun Violence has formed to find solutions to gun violence in the U.S. NPR's Arun Rath speaks with co-chairs, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. and city attorney of Los Angeles Mike Feuer.
Last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher D. Poole was recognized by the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys with the Exceptional Service Award for his work with Chattanooga's Violence Reduction Initiative, initiated by the city in 2013. U.S. Attorney Killian congratulated him, “The Eastern District of Tennessee is fortunate to have many quality federal prosecutors. I am proud that Assistant U.S. Attorney Poole was recognized for his exceptional work with this important initiative with the city of Chattanooga.”
Tensions between police and community members fueled by stop and frisk and “hot spots” policing bring issues surrounding police legitimacy to the fore, particularly in high crime areas and communities of color. In this video webinar, panels discuss the variations in practice across police departments, how research can inform efforts to control crime while enhancing police-community relations, and identify the challenges ahead.
Last month, Connie Rice of Advancement Project and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton sat down at the Bridging the Great Divide workshop, hosted by John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Open Society Foundations, to discuss issues between police and communities.
New research by Andrew Papachristos found that violence is concentrated amongst a tiny network. Tracing that network could lead to public health measures to protect would-be victims, writes Shankar Vedantam, NPR's national health correspondent.
Louisiana State University's sociology department is working toward reducing crime through the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination project.
Speaking at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards annual dinner, President Barack Obama addressed the corrosive effect of mistrust between minority communities and law enforcement, adding that it harms communities that need law enforcement the most.
Recent research suggests that police diversity and police-involved shootings are not related, despite widespread belief. Instead, the key element, as experts and cops suggest, is communication and understanding. Tracey Meares, who developed a strategy to instruct officers to explain how their actions can hurt their community rather than making aggressive demand agrees that while diversity can be important, what really matters on the ground is how an officer handles an interaction. “What really matters to people, more than how representative of the population a police force is, is how they treat people." Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin notes,"cultural competencies are really important.”
As part of Baltimore's Operation Ceasefire, Baltimore PD made a drug bust netting $3 million in heroin and cash–all from one suspect who had recently attended an Operation Ceasefire call-in.As part of Baltimore's Operation Ceasefire.
This article discusses how prosecutors are adopting a more innovative and systematic approach to assess methods to assess the likelihood of re-offense.
At a call-in meeting in Oakland, the police profess love and respect for the group members and now homicides are now on the decline. Could the two be connected?
