Originally published in Editorials on 02/09/06.
David M. Kennedy
Detroit may finally be getting ahead of the killing.
It certainly is in the 3rd Precinct. In the last year, homicides in the 3rd -- in 2004, the city's most deadly precinct -- have declined 35 percent; nonfatal shootings have decreased 29 percent.
It looks like something distinctive is happening. Excluding the 3rd, homicides and shootings are down city-wide only 2 percent. Some other precincts are showing gratifying homicide reductions, but no others are showing such large movements in both killings and shootings.
Partnership cuts crime
It will take more time to be sure that the progress is genuine and sustainable, but right now the picture is very promising.
And it is no accident. In the 3rd Precinct, Detroit has been testing a common-sense but extremely innovative partnership between the Michigan Attorney General's Office, the Detroit Police Department, the Michigan Department of Corrections and community groups: the Joshua Project.
Joshua is strikingly straightforward: Tell the people driving the violence to stop, offer them help if they'll take it and take action if they don't.
Simple as it is, experience around the country is showing that it works.
Model works elsewhere
Similar work in Boston in the mid-1990s -- Operation Ceasefire, which I helped design -- dropped homicides among active street offenders two-thirds almost overnight, the so-called "Boston Miracle."
A recent project aimed at serious offenders in Chicago reduced its homicide rate almost 75 percent.
The approach has been enthusiastically endorsed by the U.S. Justice Department, which has made it a centerpiece of its national Project Safe Neighborhoods.
The logic is clear. Most of the street violence is driven by small groups of high-rate offenders -- gangs, drug crews and the like, who usually make up just a few percent of even the most dangerous neighborhoods.
Most of the violence is not about business, but Hatfield-and McCoy vendettas, respect and social friction like boy-girl issues.
Neither regular law enforcement nor regular prevention stops it. Arresting a murderer does nothing to stop the gang-on-gang beef that he was part of, and helping at-risk kids does little when the streets they live on are out of control.
Focus changes offenders
But a focused approach to change the behavior of hard-core offenders can.
Operations like Joshua reach out directly to these offenders, many of whom are on probation and parole, through organized meetings, home visits and street contacts.
A clear message is delivered. If there's violence, we'll pull every legal lever we can on your group: drug enforcement, warrants, old and current cases, probation and parole supervision, everything. If you want help, we'll make sure you get it.
The community speaks very clearly about the need to stop the violence: Even street offenders care about kids and grandmothers.
Collective accountability
The collective accountability makes groups police themselves, and the services and the moral voice of the community assist and redirect those who are open to it.
As much as anything else, the line drawn in the sand gives many offenders an honorable exit from a situation they find absolutely intolerable.
So there's good reason to think the gains from the Joshua Project are real and could be expanded to other areas in Detroit.
There's also been another clear lesson from the experience of other cities: These operations are fragile. They take consistent focus and cooperation from a variety of agencies, groups, and individuals.
Approach is fragile
A loss of commitment, personnel changes, political clashes and the like can destroy the partnership.
That's what happened in Boston, which let Ceasefire collapse and is now facing its highest homicide rate in 10 years.
Miracles just happen; everything else takes work. But it's work that can be done and is well worth doing.
The Joshua Project shows that Detroit can do it.
David M. Kennedy is the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice and advised on the Joshua Project in Michigan. Mail letters to The Detroit News, Editorial Page, 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226 or fax them to (313) 222-6417 or e-mail them to letters@detnews.com.
