‘Interrupters’ Help Reduce Violence in New York City
They have prior criminal records but now aim to resolve neighborhood conflicts before they turn violent. They walk neighborhood streets on a daily basis and use their connections to resolve disputes before they escalate, requiring the police.
These “violence interrupters” and their tactics helped to drive down crime in East New York and the South Bronx, two neighborhoods analyzed in a John Jay College of Criminal Justice report.
The city began implementing 18 such programs around the city from the global nonprofit Cure Violence in 2010, drawing funds from the U.S. Department of Justice. East New York and the South Bronx recorded steeper declines in shootings compared with two neighborhoods without the programs, the college said.