The Smart Way to Stop Shootings

By Lucy Lang and Tyler Nims

July 28, 2020

Originally published in NY Daily News

The past two months have seen a disturbing rise in shootings. Stopping this violence means recognizing that it cannot be solved by the harsh and racially targeted policies that have led to the American tragedy of mass incarceration, and that law enforcement alone cannot end gun violence in a country with more guns than people.

Racist demagoguing from the White House and recent threats to send unidentified federal troops into New York City exemplify the wrong approach. We can be proactive about gun crime without being excessively punitive.

There is no question that these shootings are unacceptable. They inflict enormous pain, not only for victims and their families, but for entire communities.

But before anyone declares that a draconian crackdown is needed to save New York City, look to the recent past. There have been fewer shootings year-to-date than in 2012, which itself was the safest year in the five boroughs since the early 1960s. Safety gains since 2012 were achieved as New York City ended stop-and-frisk, limited enforcement of low-level offenses and significantly reduced the number of people in jail.

To respond to this summer’s violence, we have to understand what is causing it — and what is not. The most likely suspect: the society-altering devastation of COVID-19. More than 25,000 New Yorkers have died from the virus and nearly one million are out of work, with little hope for a swift recovery. The virus also has exacerbated the deep racial inequalities in our society; Black people are twice as likely as white people to die from COVID-19.

Gun violence is concentrated among small networks of people – mostly young people – whose lives are precarious, stressful, and unstructured in the best of times. They are in a much worse position after the ravages of the pandemic, with even less access to employment, education, services, and secure housing.

Across the country, cities facing similar hardship have also experienced increased shootings.

Predictably, some people in our city — and in the White House — have used these tragedies for political purposes, as an excuse to call for rollbacks to much-needed justice reforms. But the data paints a different picture. Of the 1,500 people released from Rikers to prevent the spread of COVID-19, one has been re-arrested for allegations of murder, and seven people — less than half of 1% — have been arrested on gun possession charges, hardly the “jailbreak” that some have declared. Bail reform statistics tell a similar story: of the 11,000 people who have avoided pretrial jail under new laws that took effect in January, only one has been charged with murder.

Instead of harsher policing and more incarceration, the right responses should be based on what we now know about gun violence. Experts increasingly recognize that those who engage in violence have usually witnessed violence or been victimized, that violence spreads through exposure, and that its transmission can be mitigated and prevented.

The cycles of trauma and retribution that lead to street violence among small networks of people can be stopped with adequate wraparound support to victims, and with proven interventions from community organizations. Some programs involve “credible messengers” — often people who were previously incarcerated — who use their reputation and experience in the neighborhood to mediate conflicts and engage young people in prosocial services.