As New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released a new report today detailing the underlying root causes of gun violence in communities across New York City, highlighting the correlation between systemic underinvestment in neighborhoods and higher rates of shootings, municipal leaders from across the country joined him in calling for holistic solutions to combat this increase in violence locally and nationwide.
The Public Advocate’s new report, Reimagining Gun Violence Prevention and Public Safety For New York City, highlights the correlation between a number of factors and a spike in shootings, including job and housing security, mental health supports, education, and healthcare access. It makes the case that zip codes which have been neglected and under-resourced in these areas have seen subsequently disproportionate gun violence. This is a pattern that officials from municipalities which include Chicago, Durham, Newark, Oakland, Portland, and Rochester say is replicated in their own communities.
The solutions to that violence, they then argue, must stem from the cause. Equitable investment from local, state, and federal government in areas such as economic development, quality affordable housing, and educational opportunity would have a significant impact on violence reduction in these areas. Producing public safety, the report argues and the officials reinforced, is not solely the responsibility of law enforcement, nor can law enforcement meet that impossible obligation. A community-driven approach, from investing in public services to providing community-based violence prevention programs, is vital to reversing decades of damage.
“In crafting our new report, we saw that again and again, the same patterns of underinvestment, overpolicing, and increases in gun violence persisted in localities across the country,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “Many of us have spent years highlighting these disparities and root causes, calling for investment and action to combat them and save lives– and we were too often ignored. I’m proud to bring together a chorus of voices from bold leaders across the country to call for community-centered solutions to correct for decades of damage, reimagine public safety, and create truly safe communities in the cities we serve.”
Joining the Public Advocate for a virtual press conference to discuss this issue were Councilmember Stanley Martin of Rochester, Alderman Rossana Rodríguez Sánchez of Chicago, City Commissioner Joanne Hardesty of Portland, Councilmember Jillian Johnson of Durham, Councilmember Sheng Thao of Oakland, and Director Office Of Violence Prevention Dr. Lakeesha Eure of Newark.
The local leaders’ call comes during the week of the anniversary of ‘94 federal crime bill, which greatly expanded the federal death penalty, funded a hundred thousand new police officers, offered almost ten billion in funding for prisons, and fundamentally transformed the American criminal justice system. Instead of addressing systemic inequities or supporting communities with rising crime, the bill’s emphasis on lengthy and punitive prison sentences trapped unprecedented numbers of Americans in more jails for longer, tearing apart families and communities. Nearly three decades later, the impacts are clear, as is the need to take immediate, far-reaching action to undo this damage and uplift neighborhoods.
“I am very grateful for the work done by Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams and his office around bringing real, community-led response to violent crime and gun violence. The City of Oakland is facing an unprecedented increase in violent crime and that peaked during the pandemic when our groundbreaking Ceasefire program was cut. After the City Council restored this program in 2021, we began to see shootings decline again. This is why we want to invest more into programs like Ceasefire, our groundbreaking MACRO program – which sends non police personal to incidents like mental health and homeless calls, our Department of Violence Prevention, Youth Summer Jobs programs, and more. This report spells out what many members of the community and violence prevention experts already know—the key to solving gun violence is to invest in our communities, invest in victims of violent crime, invest in our youth, and ensure everyone has good housing, good jobs, good pay, and a fair shot at life.” - Sheng Thao, District 4 Councilmember and Oakland City Council President Pro Tempore
“The gun violence we are facing across the country requires an all-hands-on deck situation where government needs to dig deep, think creatively, and directly engage impacted community members to develop shared solutions that improve community safety and invest in the root causes of this crisis. I’m thankful to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for illustrating the correlation between decades of underinvestment, the erosion of our social safety net, and the related rise in gun violence. Reversing this trend will be key to creating safer communities in cities across the country.” - Jo Ann Hardesty, Portland City Commissioner
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