Reducing Trauma News Archive

Researchers Basaime Spate, Elise White, and Javonte Alexander join News12 Brooklyn to discuss our groundbreaking report on why some young New Yorkers are carrying guns. Led by researchers with first-hand experience in the street networks of young gun-carriers, the study identified fear as the overwhelming factor behind the decision to carry. As Basaime Spate puts it, this was the first study of its kind to “have a shooter and a gang member talking about why they are part of a gang, why they are picking up a gun.”
 

In our new study, 100 young New Yorkers open up about why they carry guns. Their answers point to widespread fear, and a need for new paths to safety.

A look into a participant's journey with a specialty mental health court is bolstered by Center data from the Brooklyn Mental Health Court, showing that participants are 46% less likely to be arrested than their peers in criminal court and 29% less likely to be convicted. Despite limited resources, Judge Matthew D’Emic has presided over the borough’s mental health court for 21 years and stretches resources to accommodate 300 participants at a time.

"For too long, we have relied upon law enforcement and jail to be our primary response to those in mental distress."

In this opinion piece, Courtney Bryan and Times Square Alliance president Tom Harris share better solutions for supporting people with mental health needs. When the legal system, law enforcement, and social service providers work together, we can address health, psychiatric, and housing needs on an individualized basis, and ensure safety for all New Yorkers.

Violence interruption is a community-based strategy to reduce gun violence and improve public safety in neighborhoods. Our anti-violence program Save Our Streets is profiled and named as a highly successful example of curbing gun violence in the South Bronx, reducing gun victimization by 63 percent in its initial years of implementation.

Philadelphia is one of five major cities receiving national funding to study the factors driving youth gun violence. The research model involves hiring people with lived experience to ask questions in their own neighborhoods. Our Elise White and Basaime Spate, who are leading the study, share how having credible people ask the questions will improve turnout and the quality of responses. "The folks who live the experience also end up controlling the data at the end, so they control the narrative. And that’s an extremely important thing when you look at the way that gun violence gets talked about,” says Dr. White, research director.

President of the Times Square Alliance, Tom Harris, talks about the area’s recovery and shares more about the partnership with our Midtown Town Community Court, Breaking Ground, and Fountain House to create the Community First program, which connects the unhoused populations of Times Square to local resources, including housing and mental health services.

NowThis, the social media-focused news outlet, created a five-video series on our Brooklyn Mental Health Court, which offers community-based treatment not incarceration for individuals with serious mental health diagnoses. Watch the following videos to learn more:
Episode 1 - D.A. Eric Gonzalez, Episode 2 - Judge Matthew D'Emic, Episode 3 - Dave Kelly and Kerry Rowe, Episode 4 - Ruth O'Sullivan, Episode 5 - Colleen King

Detailing some of the joys and challenges of violence interruption work, NBC News highlights Save Our Streets and interviews James Brodick, the Center for Court Innovation’s director of community development and crime prevention. He stresses the need for workforce development in communities, including violence interrupters, so they face less burn out or have ceilings on their professional trajectories.

Providing alternatives to incarceration, the Center's Midtown Community Court's new Misdemeanor Mental Health Court (MMHC) will support individuals suffering from mental illness. Low-level offenses, such as shoplifting and illegal drug use, will now have social services and community service options that are restorative to both the community and participants. The Court's Youth Part has also been expanded to include young adults ages 18 through 25, reducing the risk of recidivism by targeting the root causes for criminal justice involvement.