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Evidence-Based Solutions for Violence
Beyond Policing: Ongoing Solutions Reporting on Violence Prevention by the Mississippi Free Press, Jackson Free Press and the Mississippi Youth Media Project
Jackson Funds Violence Prevention Efforts: ‘Working With Families on Both Sides of the Gun’
The City of Jackson awarded $50,000 in grant funding for three organizations working to prevent gun violence in Mississippi’s capital city.
Seeking Real Change: South Jackson Combats Legacy of White Flight, Inequity and Blight
South Jackson was once a thriving white middle and upper-class segment of Mississippi’s capital city—that is, before white and economic flight alongside deeply embedded systemic inequity took its toll.
A Dehumanization Framework in Support of Mississippi Families of Color
Dr. Karla McCullough, executive director of the Juanita Sims Doty Foundation, says Mississippi should embed core “humanizing factors” into our varying service support systems to improve relations and engagement within our communities, especially communities of color.
‘Nobody Ever Chose Him’: Dreams Deferred for Jackson Youth Caught in Violence Cycle
Oren D’Lonte Anderson was only 22 when he died from gunfire in South Jackson in late 2020 during a December spike of both COVID-19 and homicides in Mississippi’s capital city. His mother Shannon Anderson believed he was on the path to succeeding in life although he suffered from an under-treated mental illness.
Mental Health Experts: Raise Age of Children Locked in Hinds Juvenile Justice Center
Children at the Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center were abused, a lawsuit filed in 2011 alleged, which led to a federal consent decree forcing Hinds County to make changes to its operations. Magistrate Judge F. Keith Ball is holding a hearing in his chambers today concerning the settlement that Southern Poverty Law Center and Disability Rights…
Lead in Water Devastating to Children, Their Development, Their Futures
Concerns about lead poisoning in Jackson increased in recent weeks since the Mississippi Department of Health notified the city in January that it found lead in some of the city’s households last summer.
A Chance to Live: Engaging Business Community, Restorative Justice to Reduce Incarceration
After applying for 43 vacancies in northern Mississippi and being denied every one of them after his time in prison, former Columbus, Miss., Councilman Kamal Karriem is now advocating for the business community to open its doors to people like him as a measure against recidivism.
Governor’s Policing Surge In Jackson May Not Prevent Violence, Address Causes
Parts of Mississippi’s capital city are seeing a “saturation” of state police that Gov. Tate Reeves promises will counter a spike in crime and violence that has worsened since the pandemic began.
‘Not a Dungeon’: The Evolving Approach to Juvenile Detention
The Hinds County Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center has been the subject of lawsuits, reforms and face-lifts in its struggle to address the roots of juvenile delinquency and crime.
Murder in the City: Deep Causes, Harmful Biases, Unexpected Solutions to Gun Violence
On the night of Thursday, Feb. 9, a group of twenty-something Jacksonians were hanging out in Westwood Apartments at 3150 Robinson Road playing dominoes. Suddenly, several men walked in pointing guns and demanding their belongings.
Reforming Criminal Justice: Is Mississippi Making Progress?
The Mississippi Reentry Council has been working to make it easier for inmates to find jobs and re-acclimate to life free from bars. U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett says the ultimate goal of the council is community safety.
The Right to Pre-Trial Justice for All?
Scott County law enforcement officers arrested Joshua Bassett on Jan. 3, 2014, under a warrant for grand larceny and possession of meth. Bassett could not know then that he would sit in jail without legal representation for almost a year before standing trial due to a muddled and slow judicial process.
Beyond Detention: Exploring Smarter, Cheaper Alternatives to Locking Kids Up
“He’s out on the street. He comes home sometimes. He has that little anklet, he doesn’t care. It makes no difference to him. He’s afraid of nothing.” The mother of a Jackson teenage boy told her story to BOTEC Analysis researchers in 2015 as part of a state-funded study on Jackson crime.
Junior Jail: Surviving Mississippi’s Juvenile Justice System
Many juvenile “offenders” are routinely sent into a separate labyrinth from adult offenders in the justice system, one with its own complex problems, remedies and slowly changing standards.
Chronically Absent: Is Quality Education in Juvenile Detention Possible in Mississippi?
Rankin County Youth Court Judge Thomas Broome told the Jackson Free Press with some pain that before 2006, juvenile-detention centers in the state didn’t have to have school. With few organized efforts to educate detained children, they missed days or weeks of school at a time.
‘We Failed Him’: Caught in the Revolving Door of Juvenile Detention
Yvette Mason hopes that telling her son Charles McDonald’s story will prevent others from experiencing her pain by highlighting the lack of resources available to families of troubled youth in Hinds County and Mississippi. Juvenile detention failed him, she and others say.
More Preventing Violence Coverage from JFP
News Stories
Opinion and Analysis
Events
Preventing Violence: An Ongoing Series by the Jackson Free Press
Donna Ladd has a one-on-one conversation with Police Chief Lee Vance of the Jackson Police Department.
Donna Ladd sits down with Mayor Tony Yarber to discuss combatting youth violence in Jackson.
JFP Staffers sit down with violence interrupter Dr. Kai Smith and local activist Cassio Battest
This ongoing “Preventing Violence” solutions-reporting series has been supported, in part, by grants from the Solutions Journalism Network and fellowships from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Center of Media, Crime & Justice.
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