David Kennedy, Professor of Criminal Justice and Director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control, was interviewed on WNYC's “Here's the Thing” by host Alec Baldwin about the development of the Group Violence Intervention. Professor Kennedy explained how the intervention was first implemented in Boston as "Operation Ceasefire," and how it continues to work around the country to reduce violence, minimize arrest and incarceration, and strengthen relationships between law enforcement and distressed communities. 

Listen to the interview here. 

Professor Kennedy directed the Boston Gun Project, whose “Operation Ceasefire” intervention was responsible for a more than sixty per cent reduction in youth homicide victimization and won the Ford Foundation Innovations in Government award; the Herman Goldstein International Award for Problem-Oriented Policing, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police Webber Seavey Award. He is the co-chair of the National Network for Safe Communities, an alliance of more than 50 jurisdictions dedicated to reducing crime, reducing incarceration, and addressing the racial conflict associated with traditional crime policy. 

This year, he will lead a consortium of experts that includes Yale Law School, UCLA, and the Urban Institute to launch the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice. The National Initiative, funded through a $4.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, is designed to improve relationships between, and especially, racial and ethnic minority communities and the police and other arms of the criminal justice system; and advance the scholarly understanding of, and the public conversation on, those issues.