SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
Treat Killing Like a Disease to Slash Shootings
from New Scientist
Shootings and killings in deprived areas of Chicago and Baltimore have plummeted by between 41 and 73 percent thanks to a programme that treats violence as if it is an infectious disease. Pioneers of the programme, called CeaseFire, say it relies on simultaneously changing attitudes and behaviour and will work anywhere.
The key is to change social norms so that violence is seen as "uncool" both by potential perpetrators and their communities, instead of being the automatic way to settle a dispute.
On 30 June, pioneers of the programme publicised their high success rate so far to attract interest at a time in the year when violence peaks, triggered by the heat.
Read more ...
Science in the Media
Newspapers:
Magazines and Web Sites:
The Science-Media Intersection:
Subscribe to Our Content!
Visit our RSS Feeds page to choose among 13 customized feeds, or create a free My AmSci account to request an email notice whenever a specified author, department or discipline appears online.