NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE RELEASES REPORT ON COMBATING ROOT CAUSES OF GUN VIOLENCE

 

Today, the same week as the 1994 Crime Bill was passed twenty-eight years ago, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams has released a new report, Reimagining Gun Violence Prevention and Public Safety for New York City, examining the root causes of gun violence in zip codes across the city, factors that compound that violence, and solutions which address the problem holistically, focusing on underlying factors rather than simply law enforcement. The report presents compelling visual evidence that areas of New York City with increased housing and food insecurity, lack of economic or educational opportunity, and limited access to mental and physical healthcare are the same areas which experience the trauma of elevated levels of gun violence. These underlying factors, it argues, create an environment for increased devastation and loss, whether from the COVID-19 pandemic or the epidemic of gun violence that it exacerbated. The Public Advocate will detail the report's findings at 12:00 PM today in a virtual press conference with municipal leaders from across the country.  New data analysis by the Office of the Public Advocate in the report depicts in stark relief the disparities and compounding issues in neighborhoods with more gun violence incidents, and charts propose remedies on the local, state, and federal level. Concretizing and publicizing these correlations is vital to reimagine public safety in the public consciousness, to confront the harm that ignoring these factors has caused, and to push leaders to commit to solutions that have actual positive impact, rather than perpetuating patterns of the past. Chief among these solutions is providing equitable resources across these quality-of-life issue areas to combat decades of disinvestment and reverse the damage done. “As our report demonstrates with striking clarity, the blocks across our city that are traumatized with the most violence in this moment are the same neighborhoods dealing with the highest risk and death from COVID, highest unemployment, highest mental distress calls, highest cost of housing, the highest school absences,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams of the report’s findings. “All of those things together encompass a problem that’s actually fixable if we want to invest political and financial capital to solve it.”  As discussed in the report, in 2019, New York City was the safest it had been in decades. The City invested in proven solutions like Crisis Management Systems and the Summer Youth Employment Program. These and other programs had an impact in undoing the harm and disparities of disinvestment in certain communities. When the pandemic drained city revenues, critical public safety and service programs were limited, and violence began to rise. In areas which were already disproportionately disadvantaged, this spike was greater and pain deeper. The report comes amid a troubling anniversary. This week in 1994, President Bill Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 into law. 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. The “tough on crime” legislation fueled and grew a prison industrial complex, and its impacts continue to reverberate and build on themselves as new generations are ensnared by an ever growing carceral state.  “The truth is that many of us have been making the argument for years that underlying factors are at the root of both creating an environment for and leading the work against crime and violence. We were largely ignored, and the results speak for themselves,” continued Public Advocate Williams. “We’re locking up the kids of the parents we locked up thirty years ago, and if we continue to ignore the evidence that this report puts forth, in favor of overpolicing, we will see the same results, the same harm, for decades to come.” On the local level, the report recommends:   Supporting the Summer Youth Employment Program   Expanding access to affordable, fresh, and nutritious food, especially in food deserts and for New Yorkers on food stamps   Greening vacant lots, planting trees, cleaning up parks, expanding community gardens, and building a more environmentally resilient city   Building and protecting deeply affordable housing    Hiring additional HPD and DOB inspectors to investigate housing violations   Investing in Crisis Management Systems    Developing and elevating an alternative non-police response to mental-health related calls   Passing legislation to: 1) establish a commission to study and make recommendations regarding the root causes of violence in the City, 2) create an interagency task force to be charged with studying the obstacles faced by children of incarcerated parents, from arrest to reunification, 3) establish an emergency student food plan, 4) establish a domestic violence survivor housing stability program, and more On the state level, the report supports:   Passing Good Cause Eviction protections   Investing one billion dollars in gun violence prevention, victims’ services, and youth programming   Passing legislation to: 1) address the school-to-prison pipeline, 2) establish a center for firearm violence research in New York State, 3) ensure that New Yorkers with substance use disorders, mental health concerns, and other disabilities have an off-ramp from the criminal legal system to obtain treatment and support in their communities, and more On the federal level, the report proposes:   Expanding law enforcement and interagency cooperation to stop gun trafficking    Passing legislation to: 1) establish new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties, 2) establish federal grant programs and related entities to support violence intervention initiatives, 3) establish the Advisory Council to Support Victims of Gun Violence, 4) establish a framework to regulate handguns as consumer products, and more  Read the full report on Read the full report on Reimagining Gun Violence Prevention and Public Safety for New York City here.