The City of Baltimore has a murder rate just about over 300 a year and the cause according to newly elected (in 2021) mayor Brandon Scott is not drugs or gangs but cases of interpersonal violence. The solution espoused by Scott is not increased policing which has failed in Baltimore time and time again but a more personal intervention to reduce the number of violent incidents in Baltimore. Arrests, convictions and incarceration are not the answer. The key will be group violence reduction programmes (GVRS) which is empowered by community groups and financed by federal, state and city funds. Offer educational placement, job placement and training. Divert help to violent types i.e. deter violence.
2021 saw an overall increase in murder rates which rose to 337 but in Western Baltimore where the GVRS was piloted with adequate funding homicides and shootings decreased by 30%. Now with GVRS being rolled out other than in West Baltimore by 2023-year end Baltimore saw a 20% drop in homicides bringing the murder statistics below 300 for the first time in a decade.
It wasn’t easy reaching this statistic. Maryland Governor Logan resisted state funding for GVRS initially but was won over by Scott. The crushing proposed solution by Logan of police intervention, prosecutions and arrests was dealt to Baltimore by Logan for years.
Perhaps we should take the limited success Baltimore to heart. The incessant gun violence in the United States leads one to make many unpleasant conclusions about The United States. Can GVRS Baltimore style stop the gun violence frenzy in the United States?
Directed by Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough with a theatrical release in New York 27September2024 and in Los Angeles on 18October2024. Streaming on POV on PBS on 25November2024.
RKS Film Rating 82/100.
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