The current issue of Newsweek contains an article by David Kennedy (not from the famous Kennedy family) concerning the always distressing tendency of Americans to kill one another.
Specifically, the article discusses the situation in Cincinnati, where rioting took place in 2001 after a black Cincinnatian was shot to death by police over a traffic stop. Kennedy had previously worked in several other cities to reduce the murder rate, but Cincinnati became his greatest success story.
And the rationale for it all was quite simple. The gangbangers and other potential killers had to be persuaded that someone cares about them. A meeting was held for the "at risk" young men of the city at which a surgeon talked about both the care he provides to injured youths, the mother of a murder victim explained how painful it is to have a child killed, and the police agreed that they would land very hard on any gang member who broke the peace by killing someone else.
According to Kennedy, it worked. Homicides in Cincinnati have fallen by 41% in the last four years. It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than it was.
Other cities have tried the approach and it has failed if there isn't a serious and ongoing commitment to it. But God in heaven, isn't it worth a try?
Read the article. It's worth everyone's time.
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