Last week, when Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott appeared on our show, he touted a 17% decrease in violent crime in our city compared to last year. In fact, as of today, the 120 homicides recorded in Baltimore so far this year is 25 fewer than the 145 recorded at this time last year. That’s a 17% reduction. 21 fewer nonfatal shootings have occurred this year compared to last year, too.
But as the Mayor and other city leaders are quick to point out, the animating force behind the Group Violence Reduction Strategy, or GVRS, is the effort to address the root causes of the violence that has plagued our city for decades: poverty, unstable housing, lack of job opportunities, and a street culture in which arguments escalate into violent retribution instead of conflicts being resolved peacefully.
Kurt Palermo, the head of violence interrupter organization Roca, and Nick Wilson, the Senior Director of Gun Violence Prevention at the Center for American Progress join Tom for another episode in Midday's series of conversations about efforts to turn the tide of violence in Baltimore.
