Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

On Crime, We Know What Works

Monday, December 5, 2022

On Crime, We Know What Works

In recent years, much of elite opinion has been dedicated to obfuscating the causes and solutions to the increase in violent crime. At its least harmful, this messaging effort has focused on the admittedly complicated array of factors that can contribute to crime. At its worst, the campaign has sought to scapegoat the rights of law-abiding Americans for the current predicament.

In a recent essay for the Wall Street Journal titled “The U.S. Knows How to Reduce Crime,” Council on Criminal Justice Senior Fellow Thomas Abt explained how certain key insights into the nature of violent crime can be used to combat the problem.

Abt noted some of the important lessons that he and his colleagues learned while analyzing “the results of more than 1,400 studies on community violence.” These included, “that most gun violence takes place in relatively small clusters of tightly networked individuals and groups,” and that “violence concentrates not in whole neighborhoods but in micro-locations often known as ‘hot spots.’”

The researcher also noted that the “soft” approaches to violent crime that are fashionable among the urban elite need to be backed up by “tough” policies like incarceration. Abt noted that “gun violence responds to both positive and negative incentives,” adding that a comprehensive strategy must include “targeted investigations, arrests and prosecutions.”

The concentrated, both geographically and within social networks, nature of violent crime perpetrated with firearms is something that has been known for well over a decade and is a fact that should inform public policy.

For instance, in a 2010 item for the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, titled, “The Concentration and Stability of Gun Violence at Micro Places in Boston, 1980–2008,” Harvard researchers explained that,

Recent advances in criminological research suggest that there is significant clustering of crime in micro places, or ‘hot spots,’ that generate a disproportionate amount of criminal events in a city… We find that Boston gun violence is intensely concentrated at a small number of street segments and intersections rather than spread evenly across the urban landscape between 1980 and 2008.

Then-Yale Ph.D. candidate and current Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Michael Sierra-Arévalo outlined some of the research on this topic in a 2015 piece for the Hartford Courant, titled, “The Shooting Disease: Who You Know, Where You Live.” Sierra-Arévalo explained,

The concentration is not just in terms of place, but also people. It’s a tiny handful of the community that’s responsible for the lion’s share of the bloodshed. Turning to Boston again, in the period between the mid-1990s and mid-2000s, more than half of all murders, more than three-quarters of youth homicides and 70 percent of all shootings were perpetrated by 1 percent of youth between the ages of 15 and 24.

One percent.

The researcher went on to add, “As shown by Yale University sociologists in a recent study, 70 percent of all shootings in Chicago can be located in a social network composed of less than 6 percent of the city’s population.”

Chicago Magazine has also done an admirable job of covering the academic literature on this topic with its pieces titled “The Small Social Networks at the Heart of Chicago Violence” and “Chicago Gun Violence: Big Numbers, But a Surprisingly Small Network.”

More recently, the District of Columbia confirmed the concentration of its violent crime problem in a report from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Metropolitan Police Department titled, “Gun Violence Problem Analysis Summary Report.” The report concluded, “In Washington, DC, most gun violence is tightly concentrated,” and that those involved, “share a common set of risk factors, including: involvement in street crews/groups; significant criminal justice history including prior or active community supervision; often prior victimization; and a connection to a recent shooting (within the past 12 months).”

Moreover, the report found, “Approximately 86 percent of homicide victims and suspects were known to the criminal justice system prior to the incident. Among all victims and suspects, about 46 percent had been previously incarcerated.” Further, “at least 23.3 percent of all homicide victims and suspects were under active [criminal justice system] supervision.” The report also stated, “most victims and suspects with prior criminal offenses had been arrested about 11 times for about 13 different offenses by the time of the homicide,” qualifying that, “This count only refers to adult arrests and juvenile arrests were not included.”

All of this suggests that an approach that makes more robust use of what Abt termed “negative incentives” (such as prosecution and incarceration) employed against problem areas, social networks, and individuals is a more appropriate approach to curbing violence than sweeping gun controls that restrict the rights of the population at large.

TRENDING NOW
Declassified Document: Biden-Harris Administration Targeted Gun Owners and Second Amendment Rights Under “Domestic Terrorism” Pretext

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

Declassified Document: Biden-Harris Administration Targeted Gun Owners and Second Amendment Rights Under “Domestic Terrorism” Pretext

On April 16, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made good on a promise to expose the ways in which the Biden administration had weaponized the federal government against its political adversaries by releasing the Biden-era “Strategic Implementation Plan ...

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

News  

Friday, March 21, 2025

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

On March 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published an interim final rule entitled, Withdrawing the Attorney General’s Delegation of Authority. That bland title belies the historic nature of the measure, which is aimed at reviving ...

Trump DOJ Creates Second Amendment Task Force to Undo Damage of Biden Era

News  

Monday, April 14, 2025

Trump DOJ Creates Second Amendment Task Force to Undo Damage of Biden Era

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) formally announced the creation of a Second Amendment Task Force with Attorney General Pam Bondi declaring, “It is the policy of the Department of Justice to use its full ...

Federal Court in Massachusetts Enforces Range Access Statute in Pathbreaking Case

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

Federal Court in Massachusetts Enforces Range Access Statute in Pathbreaking Case

It has happened before in Massachusetts: A small, hardy band of armed Americans faces off against elements of the most powerful military in the world and commits a revolutionary act that paves the way for ...

Germany Strips “Extremist” AfD Members, Supporters of Gun Licenses, Guns

News  

Monday, April 14, 2025

Germany Strips “Extremist” AfD Members, Supporters of Gun Licenses, Guns

It’s been only a few years since the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization.” 

DOJ Drops Controversial NFA Charge Against Pardoned Jan. 6 Protestor

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

DOJ Drops Controversial NFA Charge Against Pardoned Jan. 6 Protestor

Last February, NRA-ILA’s reporting exposed the case of Taylor Taranto, a pardoned January 6 protestor separately arrested on firearm charges in Washington, D.C. 

Canadian Appeals Court Upholds 2020 Gun Bans – “Reasonable” and “Rationally Connected to a Legitimate Objective”

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

Canadian Appeals Court Upholds 2020 Gun Bans – “Reasonable” and “Rationally Connected to a Legitimate Objective”

On March 9, when Mark Carney was selected to replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister and the new Liberal Party leader, he ignored the opportunity the situation presented to jettison his predecessor’s useless and expensive “assault-style ...

Legal Update: April 2025 Litigation Update

Monday, April 21, 2025

Legal Update: April 2025 Litigation Update

In the first quarter of 2025, the National Rifle Association filed three new lawsuits and five amicus briefs, while continuing to litigate dozens of ongoing lawsuits across the country.

Colorado: Governor Polis Signs More Gun Control into Law

Monday, April 21, 2025

Colorado: Governor Polis Signs More Gun Control into Law

Continuing the trend of this legislative session, Governor Jared Polis has signed two more gun control bills into law: House Bill 25-1238 and House Bill 25-1133.  

Tennessee: Pro-Gun Bills Advance to Governor's Desk

Monday, April 21, 2025

Tennessee: Pro-Gun Bills Advance to Governor's Desk

Last week, the Tennessee legislature passed two pro-gun bills, advancing them to Governor Bill Lee's desk for his consideration.

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.