Crime intervention in Columbus: Shifting the mind to save a life

On May 1, 2021

Mayor Andrew Ginther is hoping an evidence-based violence reduction strategy will reduce crime in central Ohio.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — So far in 2021, there’s been a staggering number of killings in Columbus.

Police are investigating 63 homicides in the city. That’s twice as many homicides compared to this time last year.

In March, Columbus City Council approved a $350,000 investment into a program with David Kennedy and National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College in New York City.

Kennedy is a renowned criminologist who took his evidence-based violence reduction strategy to cities like Boston, Chicago, and Indianapolis to reduce violent crime.

It worked for 20 years and Mayor Andrew Ginther is counting on it to work here too.

In a statement, Ginther says “We are taking the expertise provided by David Kennedy and using his research in Columbus to expand our Safe Neighborhoods program into one that is group focused. We believe this, along with many other partnerships, will be key in reducing the violence we are currently experiencing.”

Kennedy spoke with CrimeTracker 10’s Angela An about his Group Violence Intervention strategy and some of the first steps he will recommend to the city.

But he says the strategy will only work if people — the public, city leaders, media, and community members – start thinking of differently about those involved in homicides as victims instead of the criminals.

“What we don’t say is that these groups are in and around Columbus and they’re the ones who are getting killed, they’re the ones who are getting hurt,” Kennedy explains.

“They are the victims here,” he adds. “We’re so focused on the criminal side of this and thinking about people as offenders and perpetrators that even when we know how extraordinary their victimization is, we never say that out loud.”

“The fact is, there is no way of addressing a serious homicide and violence problem without making people that we think of as offenders safer, and saving their lives because they’re overwhelmingly the dead.”

Watch WBNS 10TV at 11 p.m. on Monday, May 3rd for a special report on this violence intervention plan and how it will impact our community from CrimeTracker 10’s Angela An.