NYC Experiment ‘Shifts Power’ from Law Enforcement to Community

In an experiment aimed at reducing chronic criminal behavior, the district attorney responsible for one of the country’s most violent neighborhoods has agreed to forego prosecutions for some non-violent offenses and place offenders under the responsibility of community organizations.

The experiment involves a “shift in power” aimed at giving individuals more responsibility for turning their lives around instead of experiencing a fruitless cycle of incarceration, release and re-arrest, according to Brooklyn, NY District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and Cyrus Smith, a policy adviser for Brownsville Think Tank Matters (BTTM).

“Arrests and prosecutions alone do not create lasting public safety,” they argued in a jointly authored essay for the inaugural edition of Vital City, an online journal dedicated to exploring urban problems.

“Temporarily incarcerating someone who causes harm only prevents further harm while they are incarcerated (at great cost to them, their family and the community).”

Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez

The two authors said the experimental partnership between BTTM and the District Attorney’s Office in Brownsville, a neighborhood in the New York borough of Brooklyn that suffers endemic problems of poverty, unemployment and violence, is intended to address many of the factors that contribute to recidivism.

Instead of prosecuting individuals arrested for misdemeanors and other selected offenses, the DA’s office pays BTTM to “engage” with them.

The process starts with an “accountability” conversation about what the person could have done differently to avoid getting arrested, and how they can avoid police contact in the future.

“Then they focus on how BTTM can help the person reach their life goals. They talk about how they can work toward the person’s individual goals in ways that will also advance community goals,” explained the article which was also published in the Gotham Gazette.

“Many people who get arrested for misdemeanors are unemployed or underemployed, so BTTM helps them develop a five-to-seven-year plan for obtaining a good-paying job.

“It’s a very different mindset than ‘what can we do to make sure this person doesn’t get arrested again in the next six months?’ ”

The authors didn’t provide any data showing how the partnership has been working, and the article has appeared at a time when New York – like other cities experiencing a surge in violent crime—is facing a backlash over efforts to reform the system.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who proposed a similar hands-off approach to prosecuting nonviolent crimes, was forced to backtrack last month after opposition from the city’s new police commissioner and mayor.

But both Gonzalez and Smith say even some popular alternative strategies, such as post-incarceration counseling, have had little effect on improving public safety.

“Putting someone through a court-mandated program outside of jail often has little long-term impact on public safety if the program has no organic connection to the person’s life after the mandated period ends,” they wrote.

“While well-intended, such programs all too easily become exercises in checking boxes and jumping through hoops just to get out from under the court’s thumb rather than opportunities for real transformation.”

The underlying philosophy behind the program is a “shift in power” from law enforcement to community groups who are considered to have more legitimacy—and a deeper stake—in ensuring public safety.

“When the DA’s office first approached BTTM about partnering, Cyrus was skeptical,” the article recounted. “Like many in his community, he’d had negative experiences with law enforcement, and he was dubious that a partnership with a law enforcement agency could be positive for his clients.

“It took months of negotiation and baby steps to build the trust we now have, but it has been more than worth it.”

A companion effort in Brownsville involves the local police precinct. Under an arrangement called the Brownsville Safety Alliance, which brings together a coalition of community organizations, police agree to withdraw from certain locations which have experienced a wave of criminal activity for five days and hand “responsibility” for policing to local groups.

Violence Interruptors

Violence interruptors are on duty to de-escalate conflicts, and other organizations provide referrals for social services and distribute free groceries as part of a blanket approach to reduce tensions in a neighborhood.

According to the authors, that has resulted in “less criminal activity.”  They provided no data, but offered some anecdotal evidence.

“During a recent Brownsville Safety Alliance week, a violence interrupter… saw someone pass a gun to someone else and noticed them eyeing a third individual. He approached the men with the gun and deescalated the situation.”

The anecdote continued:

They had been selling drugs on that corner to support themselves and their families and were about to shoot someone else who had encroached on their turf. The violence interrupter peacefully secured the gun and promised the would-be shooter he would help him obtain food and counseling as well as training and certification for a better job than selling drugs. No one got shot and no one got sent to prison.

Instead, a long-time community resident who has served time in prison for violence himself prevented others from going down that path.

Other articles in Vital City’s inaugural issue made similar points about the limitations of police and law enforcement in tackling violent crime—particularly the challenge of gun violence.

“We now find ourselves in an increasingly dysfunctional dance, with some urgently calling for the police to ride to our rescue once again while others seek the abolition of policing,” wrote Vital City co-editors Elizabeth Glazer and Greg Berman in an essay introducing the issue.

“The debate has spread to every aspect of the criminal justice system, including the role of prosecutors. The rise in shootings in New York City and across the nation during the pandemic has only sharpened the sides.

“As the politics and language harden, both in New York City and across the country, it becomes harder to take effective action to address the violence on our streets.

“We believe that durable safety comes first from civic well-being, not the point of a gun.”

To download this and other Vital City articles, please click here.