Dr. Charles Branas, an Executive Steering Committee member with Trauma-Free NYC, has recently published new findings on effective strategies to reduce gun violence in communities.
"Our findings showed that restoration of vacant land helps to deter crime and violence and represents a pragmatic upstream infrastructural investment strategy to address complex social issues in cities. We found that police reports accurately reflected residents' perceptions, and revealed significant reductions in overall crime, gun violence, and nuisances” Charles Branas stated in an article printed by American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Columbia News noted that the “major citywide experiment showed that when vacant lots were rehabbed in poor neighborhoods, significant and sustained reductions in gun violence and nuisance crimes of as much as 30 percent resulted”.
To learn more about Dr. Branas and colleagues study, read this Q&A with Columbia Newsor view the full published study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
