A CU Boulder-led initiative to reduce youth violence in hard-hit Denver neighborhoods was associated with a 75% decline in arrests for murder, assault, robbery and other youth crimes in recent years, new research shows.
“We now have concrete data to show that when communities come together and mobilize, we can prevent youth violence, even in urban settings with a very high burden,” said senior author Beverly Kingston, director of CU’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV).
The study, published in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, assesses the efficacy of the Youth Violence Prevention Center—Denver (YVPC-Denver), one of five university-community partnerships established by the Centers for Disease Control after the 1999 Columbine High School shooting…