Did you know the VRC produces rigorous research?
Check out our Research page to read about two upcoming @Campbell projects. One is a meta-review of anti-violence strategies generally, the other focuses on street outreach conflict mediation specifically.
vrc.umd.edu/research

It's important to applaud progress. Especially when it's slow and incremental. It's a lot of hard work.
Many people prefer to pretend things are always getting worse. They want to hype crisis. That's not effective. Activism should be judged on results, not decibels.

'I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be...At a time when our world is at history's turning point...Freedom and democracy are currently under threat around the globe.'

— Japanese PM Fumio Kishida addresses Congress

PROGRESS IS POSSIBLE. We have made great strides in reducing racial disparities while keeping crime rates near historical lows. It wasn't big, broad, statutory changes that made the difference, but all of the little steps along way.

HUGE NEWS: President Biden has moved us closer to universal background checks than ever.

Under this plan, thousands more gun dealers will have to conduct background checks on buyers — addressing major loopholes that let dangerous people get guns. politico.com/news/2024/04/1…

Thank you Thomas Abt for lifting this up. You know this space as well as anyone and you know what is needed. Let’s hope we can move the needle!

The federal government still doesn't count how many people police kill (justified or not). We simply do not fund it. We could. We do not.
We do not keep track of how many people are criminally shot in America. We could. We choose not to.
$1/per person a year could 3X the budget.

A huge Medicaid cut in Tennessee led to increases in crime, new research has found.

This finding comes right after a big national Medicaid drop-off last year, and amid ongoing consideration by several states of even deeper cuts.

New in Bolts:

boltsmag.org/medicaid-cover…

See below for an op-ed on a violence reduction effort that is coming to St. Louis, co-written by UMD Criminology Associate Research Professor and Violence Reduction Center Founding Director Thomas Abt.

UMD Right Now UMD Research

In this St. Louis Post-Dispatch op-ed, Rev. Roderick Burton and I discuss an exciting new regional effort to stop violence and save lives. This is very good news for St. Louis and its surrounding areas. stltoday.com/opinion/column…

Jens Ludwig and Kevin Schnepel: transfers and employment programs affect property, but not violent, offending

nber.org/papers/w32297