NEWARK, N.J. — Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) hosted a Community Violence Intervention Summit with New Jersey’s urban mayors to discuss the gun violence epidemic that continues to grip communities across the country and to highlight community-based intervention solutions to tackle this crisis. During the summit, Senator Booker announced the introduction of the bicameral Break the Cycle of Violence Act, legislation that would provide federal grants to communities for evidence-based gun violence intervention and prevention programs designed to interrupt cycles of gun violence. U.S. Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV), Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.

The Community Violence Intervention Summit was cohosted by the New Jersey Urban Mayors Association at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The discussion brought together government leaders with leaders from several New Jersey-based CVI organizations that receive federal grants: Newark Community Street Team, Prevention Education, HMH Hospitals Corporation, Acenda, and the Community Based Public Collective.

Several urban mayors were present at today’s event, including Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, President of the New Jersey Urban Mayors Association; Mayor Adrian Mapp of Plainfield; Mayor Ted Green of East Orange; Mayor Reed Gusciora of Trenton; and Mayor Helmin Caba of Perth Amboy. Representatives from member municipalities were also present, including Jersey City, Irvington, Bridgeton, and Orange were also attendance.

Research has shown that community-oriented intervention programs combined with common-sense gun violence prevention policies can dramatically reduce gun violence rates. In particular, Newark has become national leader in implementing a broad array of strategies to combat gun violence, including community violence intervention programs. These efforts have yielded clear results: in 2022, Newark saw a 32 percent reduction in shootings and gunshot victims, reaching a level that was even lower than pre-pandemic levels. 

“We must take immediate action to address the gun violence epidemic that continues to rip families apart and ravage neighborhoods across in our state and across the country,” said Senator Booker. “Through innovative and evidence-based policies, we can curtail gun violence and save countless lives. This bicameral legislation will invest federal resources in community-based violence intervention and prevention programs that are proven to reduce gun violence, so we can confront this crisis head-on and keep our communities safe.”

“In the City of Newark, we address violent crime as a public health issue,” said Mayor Baraka. “Our strategy is to identify crime “hot spots” and to deploy community violence intervention organizations along with our police officers to those areas. We recognize that we cannot arrest our way out of violence, therefore, we work to discover what the community needs are and we strive to meet those needs. We are thankful for Senator Booker’s Break the Cycle of Violence Act as it will deploy much needed resources that are integral to our crime reduction strategy and will help to improve our residents' quality of life and save countless lives.”   

“Today, gun violence remains the leading cause of premature death for Black men, as well as the number two cause of premature death for Latino men and Black women. For decades, politicians in Congress have stoked fear about urban crime to divide us, while refusing to invest in real solutions,” said Congressman Horsford, whose father died as a result of gun violence. “We need to focus on stopping crime before it starts and that is exactly why Senator Booker and I have introduced the Break the Cycle of Violence Act. This money will invest in proven, community-based violence intervention programs to build safer communities, while reducing crime, saving lives and breaking the cycle of violence so many have grown numb to.”

While the human cost of gun violence is agonizing, the economic costs for communities and taxpayers is staggering as well. Gun violence costs the United States $557 billion every year—with each American bearing $1,698 of this cost annually. Immediate and long-term medical care makes up $2.8 billion of the total cost, and we spend $11 billion on police and criminal justice responses. In New Jersey, gun violence costs taxpayers $5.3 billion each year, with New Jersey taxpayers bearing $168.9 million of those costs.

Furthermore, while gun violence affects communities in every corner of the United States, racial disparities in gun violence remain particularly acute. Black men, who make up just 7 percent of the U.S. population, account for more than half of all gun homicide victims each year. From 2015 to 2020, Black children and teens were 12 times as likely to be shot to death as their white peers. Hispanic and Native American children and teens were both nearly three times as likely to be shot to death as their white peers.

Several studies have shown that the violence prevention and intervention programs that the Break the Cycle of Violence Act would fund have been successful in reducing gun violence in their communities. For example, Richmond, California, invested millions of dollars in violence reduction programs and saw a 70 percent drop in gun homicides between 2007 and 2016. In Massachusetts, gun homicide rates fell by 35 percent from 2010 to 2015 when they implemented public health approaches with its Safe and Successful Youth Initiative, while national rates increased 14 percent within that same period. In Oakland, California, gun homicides and nonfatal shootings have fallen by 50 percent since 2012, as a result of a citywide violence reduction plan known as Oakland Ceasefire.

The Break the Cycle of Violence Act would provide federal grants to communities that experience 20 or more homicides per year and have a homicide rate at least twice the national average, or communities that demonstrate a unique and compelling need for additional resources to address gun and group-related violence. Each grant awarded would be renewable over eight years and funds will be commensurate with the scope of the proposal and the demonstrated need.

The grants would be used to implement the following violence reduction initiatives:

  1. Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIP) that provide intensive counseling, peer support, case management, mediation, and social services to patients recovering from gunshot wounds and other violent injuries. Research has shown that violently injured patients are at high risk of retaliating with violence themselves and being revictimized by violence in the near future. Evaluations of HVIPs have found that patients who received HVIP services were less likely to be convicted of a violent crime and less likely to be subsequently reinjured by violence than patients who did not receive HVIP services.
  2. Evidence-based street outreach programs that treat gun violence as a communicable disease and work to interrupt its transmission among community members. These public health-centered initiatives use street outreach workers to build relationships with high-risk individuals in their communities and connect them with intensive counseling, mediation, peer support, and social services in order to reduce their risk of violence. Evaluations have found that these programs are associated with significant reductions in gun violence, with some sites reporting up to 70 percent reductions in homicides or assaults.
  3. Group violence intervention strategies, which are a form of problem-oriented policing that provides targeted social services and support to individuals at highest risk for involvement in community violence, and a process for community members to voice a clear demand for the violence to stop. This strategy also communicates that there will be swift accountability for those who continue to perpetrate violence. This approach coordinates law enforcement, service providers, and community engagement efforts to reduce violence among a small, identifiable segment of the population that is responsible for the vast majority of gun violence in most cities.

Today’s announcement of the Break the Cycle of Violence Act at the Community Violence Intervention Summit was part of Booker’s 2023 Jersey Summer Road Trip, a series of stops highlighting New Jersey’s 21 counties. The road trip will focus on Booker’s efforts to secure congressionally directed funding for critical projects in the state; his legislative priorities, including his work to address the opioid epidemic, counter the scourge of gun violence, and serve New Jersey veterans; and his support of local businesses and organizations.