“If you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to help build theirs…”-Tony Gaskins

Definition of The American’T Dream

* The American’t Dream is a satire on the “rags to riches” notion of the American Dream.

* It represents the ideal that people strive for success by working an unsatisfactory job, rather than a fulfilling career that feeds their own success and passion. So rather than chasing the “American Dream” they are chasing the “American’t Dream” by allowing their own dreams to be stifled by another person’s dream.

Everybody claims they want SUCCESS, but very few truly pursue it. Following on from the success (2 Million YouTube views) of “Why I Hate School But Love Education”. The American’t Dream addresses the distinctions between the principles of a job you make yourself do day in day out, and a career you love and are really passionate about.

As time goes by, we become more preoccupied with surviving as opposed to living. Many people are content with having a stable routine job (which doesn’t pose any risks to their way of living), rather than pursing their own creative ambitions. They frequently complain about detesting their job, but continuously put themselves in this unsatisfactory position, accepting this is all they’re worth.

Why do we spend our time struggling to work for other people, rather than build and achieve our own dreams?

What’s stopping us from finding out what our dreams are and chasing them?

In a society where the 9–5 job routine has now become the epitome of success for the average person. Is the possibility of a promotion or generic work achievements really what spurs them on in life?

Is it the fear of failure or the loss of stability, which leaves us trapped chasing this American’t Dream?

Director: Kevin Ngongo:@kevinngongo www.kevinngongo.co.uk

Camera Operator: Tai Nguyen:@tnvideography

Make- Up: Florence Adepoju:@mdmflow

Today, President Barack Obama announced his proposals to address gun violence in America. He was flanked by children who have written to him about their desire for change in the wake of the shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which 27 people died, including 20 young pupils.

As tragic as Sandy Hook was, the 217 killings reported by the Baltimore police in 2012, sadly, are more typical of this epidemic and how it affects the daily lives of Americans, including kids. In fact, 11 of those 217 Baltimore victims were children. Many more lost their mothers or fathers, or were injured. And still others spent much of the year afraid to play outside.

The good news: In addition to the measures proposed this week by President Obama and Gov. Martin O’Malley, we have other, proven, ways to make things better — right now. Communities all over the United States can learn from strategies being pioneered in Baltimore, among other cities. These strategies are achieving results by treating shooting like another familiar epidemic in America: smoking.

Everyone knows smoking kills, but for the most part, that isn’t why people quit. They quit because their parents, friends, or kids tell them they’re worried they will die — or that they smell bad. They quit with the help of practical support from friends and family, and sometimes health professionals. And people quit because in America, smokers are turning into outcasts shivering in the cold for a drag, whom 58 percent of Match.com members say they would never date.

Similarly, a young man about to do a shooting is unlikely to stop because he is afraid of going to prison, getting hurt or even dying. But he might pull back when a person he knows and respects is there in time to remind him how his actions will hurt the people he loves, calm him down and help him save face.

If he decides he wants to change his life, it is much more likely to work out if there is someone he trusts and whom he can depend on for support. If his community makes it clear that this behavior is unacceptable, and has consequences for everyone, that is additional incentive.

Cure Violence, a national NGO that has been working in Baltimore since 2007, is built around these lessons, learned from campaigns designed to tackle public health problems like smoking. It gets results. An evaluation, published last year, by the New York Academy of Medicine found that the Baltimore Health Department’s replication of the Cure Violence model, “Safe Streets,” achieved reductions of up to 56 percent in homicides and 34 percent in nonfatal shootings in Cherry Hill between January 2009 and December 2010.

How is Cure Violence doing this? They train “interrupters” — men and women with credibility on the street and an ear to the ground — to go into potentially violent situations and defuse them. They hire outreach workers who provide support to the boys and men most likely to do violence. And they engage the whole community in “peace summits” and campaigns that help change social factors, and make resolving a conflict with violence less attractive to the rising generation.

Together, these activities create communities where a 7-year-old boy sees and learns that nonviolence can command respect. When that happens, violence goes down. We need to use examples like Safe Streets to inspire a national citizen movement to change social norms, combined with professionalized outreach to help to those who need it most.

President Obama and governors like Mr. O’Malley and New York’s Andrew Cuomo have made an excellent start. However, we all need to pull together to tackle the community-based social norms that lead to violence — a response that has been shown to work in Baltimore and beyond.

Dr. Gary Slutkin is the founder of Cure Violence. Michael Feigelson is program director at the Bernard van Leer Foundation, a Dutch foundation focused on disadvantaged children.

Original article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-guns-baltimore-20130116,0,5704016.story

There is a new offence of aggravated possession of a knife, and mandatory life sentences for anyone committing a second serious violent or sexual crime.

Some dangerous prisoners will have to serve two-thirds or whole sentences, instead of parole after half the term.

Ministers said they were determined to crack down on violent criminals.

The offence of aggravated knife possession targets those who wield knives in a public place or school to threaten and create a risk of serious physical harm.

In almost all such cases, judges must impose a custodial sentence – a minimum six months for an adult or a four-month detention and training order for 16 and 17 year olds.

There is also the “two strikes” system – a new mandatory life sentence for people convicted of a second very serious sexual or violent offence.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling: “When somebody behaves in an aggressive way with a knife, they should and will go to jail”.

For those dangerous criminals who do not come under the two strikes rule, the government is introducing an extended determinate sentence (EDS).

Unlike normal sentences, offenders on EDS are not automatically released from prison halfway through their jail term.

They have to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence and may be detained until the end of it.

EDS replaces the controversial “indeterminate” sentences under which prisoners deemed a danger to the public could be detained indefinitely.

The measures have been introduced as part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Clive ColemanBBC News legal correspondent

The combination of the “two strikes” rule and Extended Determinate Sentences marks the end of the highly controversial Indeterminate Sentence For Public Protection, or IPP.

These sentences were introduced under the 2003 Criminal Justice Act to solve a vexing problem: how do you deal with an offender who has served their sentence, but remains a real danger to the public when released?

IPP was intended to be the answer, to be used for a small number of dangerous, violent and sex offenders.

However, IPPs were used very widely and became de facto life sentences, in many cases for criminals serving relatively short tariffs – in some cases months rather than years.

To be released the offender had to show that he or she no longer posed a danger to the public. That required the provision of rehabilitative courses, and there simply weren’t enough of these.

The government hopes the new system will be clearer, while still protecting the public from truly dangerous offenders.

The provisions in the Act are being introduced in stages. A new criminal offence of squatting came into effect in September 2012 and the remaining measures will come into effect in 2013.

Some of the changes have attracted criticism.

With regards to knife crime, Michael Turner QC, chairman of the criminal bar association, said “a very blunt instrument” was being used in the form of deterrent sentences which, he said, “research shows doesn’t work”.

“No-one in that moment of pulling a knife thinks about the deterrent and a lot don’t even know about it,” he said.

And Kate Whaley, from the charity Mothers against Murder and Aggression (MAMAA), said the measures failed to factor in rehabilitation.

She told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “What we need to be doing is finding ways to stop young people carrying weapons in the first instance.

“What is going to be done to change the offending behaviour of these people? That is what we should be looking at.”

Speaking about the changes, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling told the BBC the changes would mean “a small number of additional prisoners going to prison for longer”, adding that he was “all in favour of that”.

‘Second chance’

He said the two-strikes rule would apply to serious sexual offences or violent offences that would command a sentence of 10 years or more.

“Everyone deserves a second chance. If they don’t use that second chance they go to prison for life,” he said.

“If you’re wandering round carrying knife in a threatening way, you will go to jail. I’m also looking at the issue of cautions for knife crime, which I’m not happy with at all.”

Mr Grayling, who became justice secretary in September’s cabinet reshuffle, said he would make “more changes” as he continued to review sentences.

BBC legal affairs correspondent Clive Coleman says that while some people see the new measures as reducing a judge’s discretion, others will welcome what is considered to be a tough new regime.

In Scotland, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said last week that the maximum prison sentence for carrying a knife in Scotland would increase from four to five years.

Mr MacAskill also announced a crackdown on people released from prison who commit more crime before their original sentence has ended.

Original article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20576580

Police in Tottenham outside the Carpetright building

Reading the Riots, compiled from interviews with 130 officers from eight forces across the UK, also revealed police were astonished none of their colleagues were killed in the four days of violence which followed the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham by officers on Friday, August 4.

Many of the officers interviewed believe worsening social and economic conditions will cause more unrest in the future, but budget cuts forcing the loss of a predicted 16,000 frontline posts by 2015 will leave police unable to cope were there to be a repeat.

The research, conducted by the London School of Economics and The Guardian, was condensed into a short piece for BBC Two’s Newsnight on Monday evening.

Speaking after the 20 minute film had been shown, Tottenham MP David Lammy said: “Everybody knows the issues behind these riots have not been dealt with, so we will see further unrest and not the numbers to deal with it.”

The study also reveals the Met failed to activate a national alarm system to call for more resources until the third day of riots, and once officers from other forces did arrive they were hampered by poor communication with central command.

Senior Metropolitan Police officers also accepted they struggled to deploy enough staff to contain the rioters, while forces across the country failed to fully act on intelligence gleaned from social media networks, which were used by rioters to outmanoeuvre police.

(Original article can be viewed here: http://www.tottenhamjournal.co.uk/news/crime-court/police_fear_repeat_of_tottenham_riots_1_1429687)

On April 30, the first part of a 2-day workshop on the Contagion of Violence was convened in Washington DC by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences (read more). The IOM workshop brought together over two dozen professionals and experts in a broad range of fields to consider violence from a new perspective.  

Dr. Slutkin, Founder and Executive Director of CeaseFire, expressed that the event was “a historic moment to properly treat violence as an epidemic.” (Read more on Dr. Slutkin’s re-understanding of the issue here).  While the theory has been a central part of CeaseFire’s thinking since inception having leading experts in their respective fields apply the perspective to “different manifestations of the same disease”— self-directed, interpersonal, family, domestic, political and ethnic violence—was truly momentous.

Information flowed in hour-glass form throughout the first day—broadly set in the historical context of the birth of public health with John Snow; broadly set in an interdisciplinary context with neuroscientists and criminologists speaking side-by-side—it narrowed from the group dynamics at work in collective violence to what happens at a neurological level when we seek acceptance. And, broadened out again to look at two current historical events—the London Riots and the Arab Spring—through this new paradigm.

Jeffrey Fagan, Columbia Law Professor introduced the role social networks play in spreading theContagion of Street and Community Violence. Fagan demonstrated how single violent incidents can set off a chain reaction of violence that spreads group to group. This concept of transmission and spread was echoed by psychologist Eric Dubow in his discussion on collective violence, criminologist Deanna Wilkinson on social contagion and group dynamics, and others. Dr. Wilkinson analyzed a conflict that occurred in a club around 3 in the morning (image below) over a relatively commonplace incident—a girl dancing with a guy, who was not her boyfriend—that not only spilled into the parking lot of the club, but was instigated and escalated into 4 subsequent violent incidents (read research & interviews documenting this outbreak).

Neuroscientists Jamil Zaki from Stanford University and UCLA’s Marco Iacoboni shared the neurological factors that may be contributing to such events. In a presentation titled, Neuroscience, Empathy & Contagion, Dr. Zaki discussed the chemical release of dopamine as a reward for participating in group behavior something that could prove a factor even when that group behavior leads to conflict; Dr. Iacoboni explained the process of brain involved in imitation and the ways that violent behavior are emulated in conflict dispute.

Jason Featherstone from the UK-based CeaseFire replication Surviving Our Streets and Zainab Al-Suwaijof the American Islamic Congress  brought these perspectives into a real-world context sharing experiences from the London Riots and the Arab Spring. Jason showed how the riots escalated from a police shooting in the Tottenham community, where he grew up, spread throughout London. He then analyzed how the events could have played out differently if an effective mediation structure, like CeaseFire, had been in place (read more on Jason’s experience  and check out what Dr. Slutkin had to say about the riots to the Guardian Observer). Zainab shared how the same factors were at work in the Arab Spring events and showed the spread of violence from country-to-country.

By allowing researchers to “break out of our silos to look broadly at types and treatments of the issue” as Valerie Maholmes of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development  stated in her opening remarks the Institute of Medicine workshop helped to advance interdisciplinary thinking around violence and begin to entertain possible solutions.

London MP Chuka Umunna, who is Chair of the London Gangs Forum, has spoken out after seven stabbings, one of them fatal, took place in and around his South London constituency between the 25th February and the 2nd March.

There has been a significant recent increase in the number of violent knife attacks in South London in recent days. Between the 25^th February and the 2^nd March seven young people, four of them in the Streatham constituency of Chuka Umunna, have been attacked and stabbed, one of them fatally.

The teenager who died was stabbed at 17:50 on 2 March, reportedly after being chased by two men whilst with a friend. Earlier on the same day, at 13:15 a teenager was stabbed and left critically ill in Ernest Avenue, SE27. Five stabbings took place on the 25 February. At 02:50 in St Saviour’s road a man received multiple stab wounds. Later that today at 16:30 one man was stabbed in Tierney Road whilst another was hit and stabbed in Streatham Hill. At 16:35 a man was stabbed in Streatham Place and at 19:45 another man was stabbed in Coldharbour Lane, SW9.

Chuka Umunna is the MP for the Streatham constituency, where four of the seven stabbings took place. As Chair of the London Gangs Forum since September 2011, Chuka Umunna has been working with others in the voluntary and public sector to develop a pan-London approach to combating serious youth violence and gang involvement.

Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, commenting on the recent incidents of youth violence and knife crime, said:

“I am deeply concerned about the recent spate of stabbings we have had in my constituency and in Lambeth over the last fortnight.  Yet again we see very serious violence and, tragically in one case, a fatality, amongst our young people for no purpose whatsoever – it is totally unacceptable and we will not put up with it.

“There are no quick fixes to this ongoing problem but I am clear that all of us – politicians, the police, the local councils and voluntary organisations working with young people – must strive even harder to work in a joined up fashion as a community to end this tragic waste of life and talent.  This is why I chair the London Gangs Forum which works across London, bringing together all these stakeholders to exchange best practice and to bring more focus by central government on this issue.

“I want to pay tribute to our youth workers working to prevent this violence, to the police who have to deal with this dangerous situation, to Lambeth Council which has worked so hard on prevention and to our Community Police Consultative Group that provides a vital link to the views of the wider community on this issue.”

Article Ref : http://www.tmponline.org/2012/03/05/2832/

 

Dr. Slutkin believes that outbreaks of violence should be treated in the same way as medical epidemics. In practice, this means aiming to stop the violence at its source, rather than letting it flare up into something spectacularly nasty before bashing the anger out of people with police truncheons.

Since Dr. Slutkin’s Ceasefire programme launched in Chicago, some areas of the city have seen instances of violent crime drop by as much as 70 percent. So it was kind of inevitable that the idea would spread to London. The man trying to employ it here is Jason Featherstone, who comes from Tottenham, the area of North London where last year’s riots started. I spoke to him about his ‘Surviving Our Streets’ programme, London’s unrest and gang troubles and how violence interruption can help in situations like last August’s riots.

Jason Featherstone, director of violence prevention

I called up Jason for a chat.

VICE: Hi Jason. So what’s your aim with Surviving Our Streets?
Jason Featherstone: To create a credible way to intervene in street violence, following the Ceasefire model. We’re developing a programme that deals with those at highest risk of being either a victim or a perpetrator of knife or gun violence.

In the US they have a big problem with guns. In the UK, it’s mostly knives, but are guns getting more popular?
The weapon of choice isn’t really the issue, it’s the behaviour behind it. That said, gun violence is growing here and yes, we do have a problem with the knife crime. The younger generation have knives, whilst the older will have more access to firearms. But it’s hard to generalise, because you’ll find an incident here or there where a 13-year-old has used a firearm.

How are schoolkids getting hold of guns?
One of the big problems in the UK is the growing use of ‘rebores’. If you get a replica firearm, replace the pin, drill through the barrel, etc, etc, suddenly you’ve got a live firearm. They tend to have a tendency to blow up in your hand though, so when I was growing up people avoided them like the plague. I don’t know if the technique has been perfected, or if people are just more willing to risk, but rebores are being used left, right and centre.

They’re easier to get hold of than a real firearm, then?
One of the main differences is price. A rebore will be a lot cheaper than a real firearm. Prices vary. By the time they use it, if they’re – and I hate to use this word – ‘sensible’ in street terms, they’re gonna get rid of it. So, they’re not gonna spend six or seven hundred pounds on a firearm knowing they’re gonna throw it in a canal after they’ve used it. If they’re spending, say £250, or whatever, it’s not gonna hurt their wallet as much.

But, as I said, the choice of weapon isn’t that important. If someone doesn’t have access to a firearm, they’ll pick up a knife. If someone feels aggrieved or disrespected in some way, that’s when they have the inclination to take matters into their own hands. In that way, London’s the same as Chicago, or anywhere else, really.

Jason (third from the right) with the members of the Ceasefire programme in Chicago.

How was it for you when you went to visit Ceasefire in Chicago? I heard one of your guys looked around Chicago and said “I’m home, it’s Brixton!” or something like that.
I’m from Tottenham originally, that was my colleague Mark Shopi, who’s from South London. When we first arrived, we were going to get a hire car and they asked us where were going. We told them, “Englewood”. They literally threw their hands up and were saying, “Boys, boys, what are you going down there for?”

We got there and there are bullet holes in the walls and stuff like that, but it became normal once we were sitting down on the steps and hanging out with the Ceasefire guys. And this is the thing: yes, Chicago is a very different landscape to the UK, but the issues are really the same. Deprivation, poverty, a social exclusion to a point…

How do those problems translate into violence on the street?
Young people learn a way to navigate the streets, how to survive and the rules and the laws that govern the roads. Part of that is upkeeping your image, you can’t let anyone violate you or disrespect you. Violence is a learnt behaviour.

How do you find people to recruit as violence interrupters in London?
Through street-based networking, personal contacts on the ground level. London, you know, it’s a big and small place at the same time. People move about, it’s not like Chicago where people stay in the same neighbourhoods. You find people involved in the gang lifestyle will have allegiances and friends all over the place.

What about postcode gangs? Aren’t their movements around the city limited by those invisible barriers between, say, E8 and E9?
Yeah, the younger generation have a nightmare in terms of postcodes. I’m not saying the older guys won’t, if you’ve got a conflict in a particular area it doesn’t matter how old you are, you shouldn’t be caught down there. If I’m working in Hackney or London Fields, for example, there’s been an ongoing conflict between Tottenham and London Fields for many, many years. So there would be a lot of history to get past before engaging. Minimum of a year to develop relationships in that community or, better, find my equivalent there.

Tio Hardiman from Ceasefire wrote an article saying that violence interruption could be the answer to incidents such as the UK riots that took place last August. What do you think?
Definitely. This might come as a surprise – and this is in no way pointing the finger at anyone, because we all need to work together – but to be honest with you, if we had the team up and running in Tottenham when that happened and the family were going up to the police station… Listen, I would have had as many guys inside that police station trying to get an officer to tell them what happened, so you could get them a response and everyone else outside off the street and home.

You think dealing with it then and there could have nipped it in the bud?
Yeah, Mark [Duggan] was killed on Thursday, and by Saturday there had still been no family liaison officer over at his parents’ to tell them what had happened. I’m not here to point fingers – it should have happened, and it didn’t. But, at the same time, there’s a situation brewing. There’s a history in Tottenham, it has a very volatile relationship with the police.

The word on the street was Mark didn’t fire on the police officers, an officer shot another officer and he [Mark] was then shot in the chest. That was out on the street way, way before the IPCC came out. On the day of the protest that eventually became a riot, I would have been working as hard as I could with that family to get them what they needed and off the street. The more you have the family in distress, it’s a catalyst. It would have helped if they’d just got them into the station, and asked a family member to go back out and say, “Everybody, they’re talking to us now. Please go home. Thank you for your support.”

What is the state of violence interruption in the UK?
There are a lot of great grassroots organisations, but a lot of them are poorly funded. Also, although there are academics doing good work, they’re a bit detached from the reality of the street experience. The great thing about Ceasefire is it’s the perfect marriage of scientific methodology and street work. Right now, I think that’s it.

@joshuahaddow

For more on violence interrupters:

The youngster was found with stab wounds on the Moorlands Estate, Brixton, at about 17:50 GMT on Friday and died on the way to hospital.

It followed the stabbing of another boy hours earlier in nearby West Norwood which left the victim critically hurt.

Police are examining whether the attacks were linked to five separate stabbings on 25 February.

It means there have been a total of seven knife attacks all within a small geographical area.

Details of the five stabbings last weekend have only just been released.

Referring to the fatal stabbing, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said it is believed the victim was with a friend when he was chased by two young men and attacked.

Commander David Zinzan, in charge of policing in south-east London, said: “Following the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old boy in Brixton and other serious stabbings in Lambeth borough in the last few days, police have increased patrols.

“Extra officers have been drafted in to reassure and protect the public, and to act as a strong deterrent to anyone thinking of committing further violence in the aftermath of these incidents.

“Our priority is to bring to justice those responsible, and to prevent any further incidents in the coming days and weeks.”

Cindy Butts, a community leader who advises police, said: “This is a time when people should be binding together and supporting one another in the community.

“People should also be supporting the police’s efforts to apprehend the people responsible and bring them to justice.

“We need to restore a sense of peace and order on the streets.”

Nick Mason, chairman of the Lambeth Independent Advisory Group, said: “In the last few days we have seen the tragic loss of a young person’s life and other incidents in which other young people have been seriously injured.

“Serious youth violence and knife crime has a significant impact on young people, their families, schools and the wider community.

“This is not just a problem for police – we all have a responsibility to reduce serious violence in our communities.”

Article Ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17247711

Number of Fatal Teenage Stabbings and Shootings in London per Year – 2005 to 2012. We recently answered an enquiry about the number of fatal stabbings and shootings in London for teenage murders per year. And are making this information available for anyone else who is interested.

Table of Number of Fatal Stabbings, Shootings and Other fatal wounding for Teenage Murder in London – 2005 to 21st Feb 2012

Posted on 21/02/2012 by CitizensReport

All Teenage Murders in London mapped – 2005 to 2012

All London Murders listed – 2006 to 2012

Youth unemployment is at an all-time high in Britain while the rates of underemployment – that is working in a job capacity considered not good enough by the worker – have hit levels unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

The record unemployment levels mean a whole generation of young adults have their hopes for their futures dashed, raising fears that the resulting outrage could lead to a repetition of the unrest that put Britain in a state of emergency back in August 2011.

The social clashes have been recently found to be rooted in unemployment and poverty as well as in police brutality against certain groups of citizens.

A Citizens’ UK study from 700 local people in the northern London Tottenham area where the unrest began found that the police fatal shooting of a 29-year-old black man on August 6 was the trigger for the crisis.

However, the survey said the ethnic minorities’ mistrust of officers and public despair at the grave economic situation were responsible for the wave of protests that spread like wildfire to the whole country.

The minority groups told the inquiry that the police use of the controversial stop and search powers has been “excessive and disrespectful.”

The report also said some locals identified the disorder as a rare opportunity to take concerted action at a time when one fifth of all youths were jobless.

“It finally felt like all the people (were) coming together, united to do something, even if that something was ultimately destructive,” a 17-year-old participant in the survey said.

Britain has been an epicenter of social unrest for more than a year, which has featured massive protests every few months, beginning with the hundreds-of-thousands-strong tuition fee rallies in London in 2010.

The latest of such huge public actions were the November 2011 mass strikes by some two million public sector workers over the pension reforms and the closely-linked poverty factor, which triggered the August unrest.

With the factors fueling the public anger still in place, analysts believe the government should act to address the shortcomings or risk further trouble that could shake the foundations of the British society.

Article Ref: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/226563.html

How Does CeaseFire Work?

CeaseFire, an innovative violence prevention organization based at the University of Illinois’ School of Public Health, applies public health principles in its approach to stopping violence. The organization’s founder, Gary Slutkin, who for 10 years battled the spread of cholera and AIDS in Africa, believes that the spread of violence mimics that of infectious diseases, and so the goal is to go after the most infected, and stop the infection at its source. To put it simply, Ceasefire works to reduce the numbers of shootings and killings in hot spots, or communities with the highest rates of murder and poverty.

In 2004, Tio Hardiman, now the director of CeaseFire Illinois, launched an initiative known as the “violence interrupters” program. Interrupters are often influential former gang leaders who possess the personality, drive and connections within a community to mediate conflicts that could turn violent and talk individuals down from retaliatory violence. Having formerly been a part of “the game,” the interrupters say, gives them credibility and helps them to connect with the people they work with. For example, Eddie Bocanegra, one of the three interrupters featured in the film, has strong ties to Chicago’s Latino gangs, which Hardiman points out are notoriously difficult for outsiders to penetrate.

While violence interrupters mediate high risk conflicts and intervene in crisis situations, the organization’s outreach workers work with individuals over longer periods of time, assisting them in finding jobs, getting therapy or going to school.

But CeaseFire’s violence interrupters and outreach workers are only one component of the organization, which also focuses on community mobilization, collaborations with faith-based organizations, public education initiatives and some collaboration with law enforcement.

Today CeaseFire has partner programs in five states across the country.

How Do They Measure Impact?

Tio Hardiman says he knows CeaseFire’s model works because he was able to interrupt a hit on his own life, but the organization measures its impact by comparing year-over-year data on the number of shootings in the hot spots where the organization works. He says the data shows high-impact results. Last year, the organization spent 25,000 hours working with 1,119 high risk individuals, 30 percent of whom were referred for employment opportunities and 35 percent of whom are still working with outreach workers.

In 2008, the Justice Department hired independent researchers to evaluate CeaseFire’s work. The researchers found a 17 to 24 percent decline (PDF) in actual and attempted shootings at four of the seven sites they surveyed. “I found the statistical results to be as strong as you could hope for,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Wesley G. Sokgan, a political science professor at Northwestern University.

Hardiman is careful to add that statistics don’t just illustrate CeaseFire’s impact; they’re also a reflection of law enforcement efforts. “Our job is to stop someone from crossing the line, to stop someone from killing someone else,” he says. “But law enforcement does more than that.”

CeaseFire’s Relationship with Law Enforcement

CeaseFire collaborates with law enforcement on several levels, including getting data to identify hot spots, and securing routes for CeaseFire rallies. Police officers often sit on CeaseFire hiring panels to make sure those being hired aren’t still involved in criminal activity.

On occasion, the organization has even received tips about its interrupters from law enforcement sources. That’s because one of the programs biggest assets — using former gang leaders and drug enforcers in their work — can also pose a risk for the program.

In the clip below, Hardiman confronts the interrupters after being tipped off by police that some of them are still involved in criminal activity. He delivers a stern warning that they could be ruining the program for others. “I’m not saying this job is everything,” he cautions, “but this job does mean a lot to some people.” (Note: This clip includes graphic language.)

Watch When Interrupters Return to Criminal Activity on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

“We’re not perfect,” Hardiman said of the incident. ”I have to keep them on their feet.” But he says that only six of CeaseFire’s 300 outreach workers and interrupters have relapsed into criminal activity.

Ongoing Challenges

Beyond the risk of relapse, Hardiman says an uncertain budget — the organization does not have an endowment — is an ongoing challenge he struggles with. The bulk of the organization’s $8 million budget comes from the state of Illinois, about $4.8 million, which goes to pay staff members like outreach workers, while the the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides funding to replicate the CeaseFire model in other parts of the country. The rest comes from different foundations and charitable organizations like the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Chicago Community Trust, the Polk Bros Foundation, the National Recreation Foundation of Chicago and the Charles E. Marks Jr. Charitable Trust.

Some critics say the program doesn’t address the root causes of violence, but Hardiman says there’s a reason why CeaseFire’s focus is very specific. ”First, we have to reduce violence so that people can feel safe, and then they can address the roots of that violence: racism, poverty, unemployment, bad schools,” he explains. “Right now the levels of violence are too high. How can kids concentrate, if they think their lives are in danger? How do you think about getting a job when you’re struggling to survive, just to live day to day?”

When asked what makes him proudest, Hardiman doesn’t hesitate. “I’m most proud of when I see kids sitting on their porch on the streets, not worried about nobody,” he said. “It just feels good when you see the kids running up to the ice cream truck, when you see a community coming back to normal.”

Article Ref: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/interrupters/ceasefire-stopping-violence-and-measuring-impact/

Although London knife crime in 2010/11 was 5.16% less than 3 years previously, today it remains shockingly high.

Information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveals that in 2010/11 there were, on average, 226 incidents involving the use of a knife per week in London.

2010/11 figures show that on average in the capital, there was at least one fatal stabbing per week. There were also 25 instances each week involving knives where serious injuries were sustained. Over 50% of all incidents involving the use of a knife resulted in injury of some sort.
Although there has been an overall drop of 5.16% in all knife crime in London during 2010/11, it has increased by 17.1% nationally between April and August alone, despite violent crime decreasing overall. The Independent reported that last year robberies involving knives rose from 13,971 in 2010 to 15,313 in 2011 – a dramatic increase.

It was only in December that two men were found guilty of the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, who died as a result of a knife crime 19 years ago. In the aftermath of this case, racially aggravated violence and knife crime in particular were propelled into the spotlight. Evidently, 226 instances a week is still a staggering number, 19 years after the brutal murder of Mr Lawrence in Eltham, south-east London. It seems that despite the assurances from the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office, and the numerous campaigns set up to tackle this issue, the problems of knife crimes still persist.

On Boxing Day last year, 18-year-old Seydou Diarrassouba from south London was stabbed to death in Foot Locker on Oxford Street, collapsing on the street outside. Only last week a 15-year-old was stabbed during a ‘mass fight’ after finishing school in Grove Park, south London. Despite knife crime being an issue that exists in every age group, it is frequently associated with youths and gang crime in particular, perhaps due to the worrying ease by which one can access knives.

Following the violent disorder in August in cities across England, the Home Office committed £18m of funding towards the problem, vowing to support the police, local agencies and the voluntary sector to tackle knife, gun and gang-related violence and prevent young people entering a cycle of crime.

They have revealed that this funding will focus on – providing support to local areas to tackle the problem; preventing young people from becoming involved in violence in the first place – with a new emphasis on early intervention and prevention; offering pathways out of violence and the gang culture for young people, who want to break with the past; punishment and enforcement to suppress the violence of those refusing to exit violent lifestyles; create partnerships between local areas to see how they respond to gang and other youth related violence.

Despite this pledge from the Home Office it was announced in January that 6,000 police jobs would be lost by 2015, putting the force at its lowest in over a decade. Boris Johnson has admitted that 1,700 police jobs were lost last year despite his promises of an increased police presence, which were central to his mayoral campaign. In 2008, during his election campaign, Johnson said “I will never accept defeat, and I believe that by using all the powers available to the Mayor and taking a fresh approach, we can tackle knife and gun crime in London.” This promise has been unfulfilled, and the admission of drastic police cuts contradicts the supposed dedication of City Hall and the Home Office to violent crime.

With 226 incidents involving knives each week in London, and the eruption of violence, particularly involving young people during the summer riots, is this the right time to be sacrificing police jobs?

Article Ref:

http://www.blottr.com/london/breaking-news/knife-crime-london-worry-police-jobs-cut

A separate non-fatal stabbing took place at the street’s junction with Regent Street, several hours later.

The street has re-opened, but there is still a small cordon outside the shop.

Scotland Yard confirmed a Taser stun gun was shown by an officer controlling the crowd following the killing, near the junction with Stratford Place.

Officers are questioning a 16-year-old along with three people aged 17, another five who are aged 19 and two more, both 22.

Less than five hours later, near Oxford Circus, a man aged 21 was stabbed in the thigh.

Earlier, police said three people had been arrested in connection with the second attack but have now confirmed no-one had been detained.

Police said it was too early to confirm whether or not the two incidents were connected.

However, Insp Bruce Middlemiss, the duty officer for police in Westminster, said: “They are a similar sort of circumstances, youths, possibly from the same south London area.”

The first stabbing happened at the height of what is traditionally the busiest shopping day on Oxford Street.

A post-mortem examination of the victim is due to take place later and his next-of-kin have been informed, but his identity has not been officially confirmed.

A man, who was at school with Mr Diarrassouba, said: “I lived in the same block as him and we went to the same high school. We’d go down to play football together.

“When I’d see him in the street, he’d give me a cheeky grin and a nod.”

Det Ch Insp Mark Dunne said there appeared to have been two groups of young people “opposing each other” prior to the fatal stabbing.

“Fighting took place inside the shop and outside,” he said.

“A number of weapons have been recovered from that scene. Whether I have got the murder weapon I don’t know.”

He said there were many potential witnesses because the area was so busy, and he was keen to obtain any video footage which they had filmed.

“There were certainly people in the store, and outside the store, who had their phones recording matters,” said Mr Dunne.

“We would be particularly interested in those coming forward.”

Store ‘closed’

The area, close to Bond Street Tube, was closed between Duke Street and New Bond Street and shops within the cordon were forced to shut.

A worker at one retailer, who did not want to give her name, said: “We stopped trading.

“We closed down the store and we had to stay in, because it wasn’t safe.”

The second stabbing took place near to the junction with Regent Street at 18:20 GMT.

The 21-year-old victim is in a stable condition and his injury is not thought to be life-threatening.

Jace Tyrell, from the New West End Company, which represents shops in Oxford Street and Bond Street, said there had been “shock” among retailers over the stabbings.

“This is an extremely rare event to have happened on Oxford Street, and I think we’re still a bit stunned by what happened,” he said.

He said police officers had been “very reassuring” and Oxford Street was “open for business” again.

Article Ref : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16336368

A total of 2,076 residents aged 13 to 24 were cut or stabbed with knives in the capital last year, up from 1,594 in 2008. More than half of those victims – 1,226 – were teenagers.

Knife crime, which includes being threatened with a weapon, against 13 to 19-year-olds is up by 23 per cent and has risen in all but four of  London’s 31 boroughs.

Merton has seen a 95 per cent rise in stabbings, Southwark is up 67 per cent to 355, while Westminster has seen a 64 per cent rise to 220.

Labour said the figures showed London mayor Boris Johnson was failing to deal with the issue, despite promises to ‘tackle spiralling youth crime’.

Labour MP for East Ham Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in the stomach by one of his constituents last year.

He said: ‘It is a real worry that knife crime has risen every year under this mayor. He must make knife crime a priority.’

Mr Johnson’s spokeswoman said that while there had been an increase in knife-related robberies, serious injuries from knives has fallen and detection has increased.

‘The mayor has made tackling youth violence his top priority but has never claimed to have a magic solution to this deep rooted problem,’ she said.

The Met Police said dealing with serious youth violence ‘remained a top priority’.

P to 400 knife-wielding teenagers could be jailed every year under new mandatory sentences announced by the Government last night after our Don’t Carry, Don’t Kill campaign.

Late last night, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke caved in to the pressure of our campaign with Enfield North MP Nick de Bois, by introducing new measures for four-month custodial sentences for 16 and 17-year-olds guilty of using a knife in a threatening way.

And between 200 and 400 teenagers could be sent to jail under the new measures every year, according to Ministry of Justice estimates.

Mr Clarke said: “We have already announced we are bringing in an automatic prison sentence for any adults who use a knife to threaten and endanger.

“Clearly any extension of this sentence to children requires very careful consideration.

“However, we need to send out a clear message about the seriousness of juvenile knife crime, so we are proposing to extend a suitable equivalent sentence to 16 and 17-year-olds, but not to younger children.”

But the amendment will be seen as a U-turn from Mr Clarke, who told MPs on Tuesday that mandatory sentences were “a bit of a leap for British justice” and that sentencing should be left to judges.

Our campaign had won the backing of the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, as well anti-gang campaigners, Enfield Council and 700 Enfield residents, who signed a petition demanding action.

The amendment, which will change the law on knife crime sentencing, will be attached to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

The bill already includes six-month mandatory sentences for adults convicted of aggravated knife crime, and will now include at least four months’ detention and training for children under 16 for the same crime.

Don’t Carry, Don’t Kill MP elected to Justice Select Committee

AN Enfield MP has been elected to a parliamentary body that investigates justice legislation after running an anti-knife crime campaign with the Enfield Independent.

Enfield North MP Nick de Bois will sit on the Justice Select Committee – which examines the policy of the Ministry of Justice and provides reports with recommendations.

Mr de Bois is currently running the Don’t Carry, Don’t Kill campaign with the Enfield Independent, and handed a petition signed by hundreds of people in the borough to Parliament on Friday.

The petition calls for an amendment to legislation currently going through Parliament that would mean under 18s would also receive a mandatory prison sentence for using a knife in a threatening or endangering fashion.

Mr de Bois said: “Being elected to the Justice Select Committee allows me to help shape the way the Government approaches important issues like knife crime.

“The committee is a powerful voice for parliamentarians and I’m therefore pleased that I will have the opportunity to raise issues affecting people in Enfield and further the knife crime campaign.”

Pressure is building on Prime Minister David Cameron and Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to accept the amendment, with at least 40 MPs from the Conservatives and Labour backing the proposal.

Article Ref: Click here !

Dee, whose life has been changed through the CeaseFire initiative. Photograph: Jim Newberry for the Observer

They are the shock troops in the city’s battle against endemic street violence – peacemakers who once lived by the gun. As a documentary on their work reaches cinemas, we visit Chicago to see the campaigners in action…. article by Andrew Anthony

They are the shock troops in the city’s battle against endemic street violence – peacemakers who once lived by the gun. As a documentary on their work reaches cinemas, we visit Chicago to see the campaigners in action

On the stoop of a house on a dilapidated block in Englewood, the south side Chicago neighbourhood that tops the city’s statistics for murder, drug addiction, teen pregnancy and most of other indices of social dysfunction, are eight young African-American men and two or three women. It’s an oven-hot summer afternoon and the group is kicking back, drinking, shouting and laughing.

“I don’t like crowd scenes,” says Shango, a member of the city’s anti-violence project, CeaseFire, as we pull up outside. He explains that such gatherings increase the chances of becoming a victim of a drive-by shooting.

The street we’re in stands in the middle of a few blocks that have seen three murders in recent days, and countless more in the previous months and years. “Can’t no anybody park up on this block,” says Shango, who beneath his dreads wears an expression of mournful unflappability. His companion, TJ, a former prisoner and one of CeaseFire’s more seasoned outreach workers, tells me that summer is the “killing season” because there’s no refuge for grievances. In winter the freezing weather forces people inside, where tempers have time to cool.

To read the full article on the Guardian website

Ameena Matthews and Cobe Williams, outreach workers for the CeaseFire anti-violence initiative. Photograph: Jim Newberry for the Observer

 

The youths, who were all aged around 14, were discovered by police in West Green Road, Tottenham, shortly after 3.45pm.

One of them was pronounced dead at the scene at about 4.30pm. Another is in hospital and a third teenager has minor injuries.

Officers have arrested a 33-year-old man.

Police intially said four teenagers had been stabbed but later said there were three.

Scotland Yard said police and an air ambulance were called to the scene after reports of an assault.

Resident Tom Bridger, 36, said: “I came out of my flat at 4pm to go to the shops and saw a boy lying on a stretcher.

“Ambulance people and police officers were pumping his chest trying to save him.

“I’ve heard there was a fight.”

Jean-Pierre Laville, 30, a carpenter, said he saw a fight going on between three boys and a man moments before two of the youths “collapsed”.

He said:”There were loads of people around, they were just frozen at what had happened.”

Article Ref:  click here !

CeaseFire is a national public health strategy that has been proven to reduce shootings and killings through a combination of science and street knowledge. In Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, one of the most violently impacted communities in the city, they are shadowing Violence Interrupter Ricardo Williams as he gets a read of what is happening on the street. If trouble is percolating, Ricardo is going to be one of the first to hear about it, and will have a lead on how to disrupt it. Most of this work is conducted just by maintaining strong communication with individuals still involved in the life.

It is uncharacteristically warm out and somewhat quiet on the block. In fact, it doesn’t take long for the Chaos Theory to become the main attraction as Ricardo waves people over to come meet his friends from London.

The week long immersion, sponsored in part with seed funding from Allen and Overy Foundation, is packed with such community visits –Englewood, Little Village, CeaseFire West – as the team is put through the paces on a packed itinerary. They visit the Emergency Department at Advocate Christ Medical Center, a level-one trauma center where CeaseFire has a hospital-based partnership; sit in on a Violence Interrupter strategy session; and get a full introduction to the components of the Model.

On the block in Auburn Gresham they are greeted warmly. The young men seated on the stoop connect with the youth workers “from across the pond” almost immediately. They have no reservations openly sharing stories of life in the community, even showing the bullet holes drilled into the wall that make that life so challenging. The team may be a long way from home geographically, but when an impromptu freestyle session lead by team member Chris Preddie – a playwright, rapper and youth worker – Deon “Don Dillionaire,” an aspiring artist and Auburn Gresham resident, breaks out in front of the house, it is clear that they are not out of their element.

Left to Right:  Mark Shopi & Chris Preddie of Chaos Theory connect with residents from Auburn Gresham.

“This could be any one of the neighborhoods where we work back home,” Mark Shopi, a team member explains, “The scene, the attitudes, their experiences – they’re all very similar to the communities where we work in England.”

The success of CeaseFire internationally relies on understanding these similarities –that violence is a learned behavior and that it is epidemic in nature is not only integral CeaseFire’s philosophy, but instrumental in its intervention.

Josh Gryniewicz is the Communication Coordinator for CeaseFire, a unique violence prevention initiative founded by Ashoka Senior Fellow Gary Slutkin.
To view Part II & Part III visit here : http://peace.ashoka.org/taxonomy/term/450