https://dcist.com/story/22/05/06/dc-gun-violence-strategic-plan/



D.C. released a new strategic plan to address gun violence this week, part of an ongoing effort to organize the city government’s response to a significant rise in homicides over the past several years.

The plan, commissioned by D.C.’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and authored by the National Institute for Criminal Justice reform, rests on a central critique of the D.C. government’s recent approach to reducing gun violence: that while the city has the resources to address the problem, it has lacked both the strategy and political will to be successful.

“The District is unique in that it is one of the few cities in the country that has the needed talent, ability, and resources to drastically reduce gun violence in the city,” reads the plan. “However, it is lacking the political commitment, coordination, and a coherent strategy to reduce gun violence.”

The plan aims to solve for those shortcomings by laying out a citywide strategy for reducing gun violence with 16 main recommendations. Some of the recommendations focus on the longer-term, like launching a guaranteed income pilot with the goal of reducing poverty. But the bulk of the plan’s recommendations are geared towards reducing gun violence in the short-term, and more directly intervening in the lives of those most at risk of imminently becoming shooters or victims. The plan’s framework borrows from approaches that proved successful in reducing gun violence in other cities like Boston and Oakland.

The plan for reducing gun violence in the short-term focuses on four tenets: identifying people most at risk for committing or being the victim of violence, initiating “direct and respectful” communication with them, connecting them with services and supports, and training police resources toward serious crime and violence (and away from petty or low-level crimes).