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  • Recent Posts on Crime Victim Rights, Violence Prevention and Smart Policing

  • Biden can stop gun violence but must use both US and international knowledge and best practice (post 38)

    2012/12/19

    Newton has provided the ímpetus to get US legislators to come to grips with the dubious status of the USA as the affluent world´s society with the most fatal interpersonal violence. The announcement today of the iner-agency task force chaired by Joe Biden to look at solutions to gun violence will only succeed if it uses both US and international knowledge and best practice.

    Stopping urban gun violence in US cities such as New Orleans or Chicago is more obvious than preventing isolated mass shootings, such as Newton or Aurora. For urban violence, success will come from shifting from partial solutions and paying for incarceration to investing in comprehensive prevention.

    For mass shootings, Dunblane, Scotland, and Port Arthur, Australia produced results, including fewer problem guns accessible and a large reduction in gun related homicides in Australia. Will Joe Biden succeed? Let´s hope so.

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    Mixing alcohol with evidence to get 40% reduction in violence –From Cardiff and Milwaukee to Amsterdam (post 37)

    2012/12/19

    Amsterdam aims to tackle the alcohol related roots of violence using a strategy already proven to have reduced violence by more than 40% in a UK city – Cardiff. Why not in your city?

    It uses data from admissions to hospital emergency rooms to identify hot spots for alcohol related violence. This enables smart policing and bye-law enforcement to focus on the source of the alcohol and so reduce violence.

    Likely this strategy would be as relevant in your city as in Amsterdam or Milwaukee. It is an obvious quick win for municipalities with huge savings in costs to hospitals and to police in calls for service – not to mention stopping the costly harm to victims of violent assaults and, likely indirectly, sexual assaults.

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    The Future of Crime Prevention: Solutions to Challenges by Erich Marks (post 36)

    2012/12/14

    One of Europe´s foremost experts on crime prevention identified seven challenges to the future of crime prevention for the European Forum on Urban Safety´s Congress on the Future of Crime Prevention.

    He calls for governments to invest in applying our current prevention knowledge and shift from over-use of more of the same and ¨crime fighting¨. Responsible persons will use evidence based strategies and in doubt adapt programs proven to have worked in the past. The cost benefit analyses show that crime prevention is more successful than more of the same when there is good management of the prevention programs and adequate funding and personnel.

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