Jeff Butts, a sociologist at John Jay College who led a study in New York, told me that interrupter programs are fundamentally difficult to assess — it’s hard to know whether a decline in shootings in an area is due to the interrupters or to all the other factors at play. Continue reading ProPublica — Can Community Programs Help Slow the Rise in Violence?
Crime is a “complicated social phenomenon” with many causes, said Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. “Easy answers are popular, but they are never accurate,” he said. Continue reading USA Today — Data from big cities suggests most violent crime fell last year. It’s not the full picture, experts say.
The annual number of people under 18 shot across the city has more than doubled since 2019, and the number of kids committing shootings is also on the rise. “Do you have an indication why it’s happening?” McNicholas asked Professor Jeffrey Butts, with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Continue reading CBS2 New York — Data shows troubling increase in number of juveniles shot across New York City
Researchers at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that between 2010 and 2020, taxpayers shelled out at least $350 million to care for survivors of gun violence. The report also says taxpayers are paying more than 70% of hospital costs, with inpatient stays for injuries averaging eight days in the study. Continue reading Scripps News — Shootings in New York City are costing taxpayers millions of dollars
Putting a price tag on the city’s gun violence may help the problem get attention from communities less directly affected by the problem, Dr. Jeffrey Butts, head of the Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay, said. Continue reading New York Post — NYC shootings cost taxpayers at least $350 million in hospital bills
While youth violence remains a concern, data on most crimes seem to have reached a plateau, though it’s too early to spot any clear trends. Academics noted that stable crime rates aren’t unusual after a period of decline, and cautioned that yearly numbers rarely point directly to the success or failure of city initiatives. Continue reading Boston Globe — Crime is down overall in Boston, but activists say the work must go on
“Violent crime was twice the rate in the mid-90s as it is now,” Jeffrey Butts, research professor and director of the Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told City & State. Continue reading City & State — Reviewing Lee Zeldin’s focus on crime in New York City
My contributions to a discussion at Yale Law School stressed the need to build community violence prevention with credible evidence rather than progressive rhetoric. Continue reading Community Safety as a Public Health Issue: Yale Law School
Panel discussion about gun violence, organized by the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at Rockefeller Institute of Government, State University of New York. My opening statement in the first video is just under 9 minutes. The full panel is 1 hour. Continue reading Opening statement in a panel discussion.
Gun violence is a massive problem in American communities. And after decades of failed policies, some community members are taking matters in their own hands and working as violence interrupters. In this episode of Beyond Black History Month, we meet members of Save Our Streets, or SOS. We find out how some of the same people who once caused neighborhood violence are dedicating their lives to stopping it. Continue reading Podcast — Are violence interrupters more effective than police?
Jeffrey Butts, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who has researched the crisis management system, said the city faces the difficult job of scaling up the program without losing its grass-roots bonafides. Continue reading Gothamist — No New Funding for Violence Interrupter Program, Despite Adams’ Promised Expansion
“My main concern is that [politicians] don’t care about the details, they just want to have a good sound bite and a good promotional campaign,” says Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Continue reading Newsweek Magazine — ‘Defund the Police’ Is Dead But Other Reform Efforts Thrive In U.S. Cities
Jeffrey Butts participated in a panel hosted by the Bureau of Governmental Research in New Orleans, discussing the potential of community-based violence prevention strategies. Continue reading Bureau of Governmental Research — Beyond Law Enforcement: Exploring Community-Based Strategies To Make New Orleans Safer
Understanding what work is being done, anything that lets researchers “pull back the curtain,” is important, said Jeffrey Butts, director of the Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Continue reading Baltimore Sun — After killings of 3 workers, Baltimore’s Safe Streets anti-violence program at a crossroads: ‘We have to continue to evolve’
“The things that cause crime to go up and down are largely societal, structural,” said Jeffrey Butts, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “It’s about employment, poverty rates, drug abuse, types of drug being abused, neighborhood conditions.” Continue reading NY1 — Shootings Data Show New Trends in Gun Violence
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