The City

Mayor Eric Adams on Monday unveiled a “blueprint” for stemming gun violence in New York City — calling to bolster police units, stiffen state laws and involve multiple agencies in addressing the crisis. …

…Adams outlined his vision in a 24-minute speech streamed online — one that significantly bolsters the standing of crisis management teams and “cure violence” groups funded by City Hall but still not fully embraced by the NYPD.

The groups, whose staff includes reformed gang members and others with histories with the criminal justice system, are contracted by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to prevent violence in communities and keep the peace.

… Jeffrey Butts, who runs the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College, says setting up cure violence programs in a way that generates evidence of what methods work to reduce shootings will be essential going forward, “If people just embrace the brand and use it to justify whatever they’re doing, it will eventually lose that appeal. And people will start criticizing it and say it doesn’t work,” said Butts.

[ read the article ]