Reducing Violence

Final Strategy Draft Discussion

2006-06-30T17:12:00.000-04:00

This is a place for committee members to discuss the final draft of the Reducing Violence: A Community Response strategy to lower the murder rate.

Click on the "comments" line below to add your responses.

If you need a copy of the draft we're discussing, click here. Again, this is provided as a working draft for committee feedback and is not for publication at this time.

No Murders in May

2006-05-02T13:27:00.000-04:00

From Eddie Staton of Mad Dads:

Friendly reminder: “NO MURDERS IN MAY” rally will take place at 4910 Main Street (We’re For Jesus Church parking lot) Tuesday, May 2, 2006 @ 6:00 PM. The general public is welcome to attend. Guest speakers will include three mothers who have lost teenagers this year to street violence! They will make a plea to the city, “…please stop the violence!” Several Pastors will also offer prayer for our city.

There will be five rallies in different parts of Jacksonville throughout the month of May. Next Week: Tuesday May 9th, 2006 @ 6:00 PM MAD DADS will again host a rally at the Sweetwater Church of Christ, 7185 Esther (corner of Firestone & Esther) @ 6:00 PM. Guest Speakers will be Troy McNair, CEO Hip Hop Economy Network, Inc. & Geraldo Abrams, President, Bungi Entertainment. They will make a plea for peace on the streets – NO MURDERS IN MAY!

Tuesday, May 16; May 23 & May 30 rallies and speakers will be announced next week.
For additional information, contact MAD DADS at 388-8171.

Eighth Meeting: Preventing Violence

2006-04-30T13:44:00.000-04:00

Mark Griffin, Coalition of African American Ministers, and Eddie Staton, from Mad Dads, challenged the community to do more to address the needs of young people and prevent violence in the community. Read more about Reverend Griffin's efforts here and about Mad Dads here.

What was the most important thing you learned from the meeting? What could Jacksonville be doing differently? What is your role in the solution?

Reader response: Blueprint for Prosperity

2006-04-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

Committee member Doc Scott responds to the Blueprint for Prosperity:

First, I agree to the fact that's the Blueprint is bigger than the Mayor's Office, Worksource or the Chamber of Commerce. This city has many negative spirits with many faces, racism, favoritism, and nepotism. In order to succeed against a legacy of negative spirits you must be single minded in purpose, action and footsteps.

If the Mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, and the City Council were serious about raising per capita income they could make an impact today; by working seriously and forcefully to raise minimum wages to 8 dollars per hours. It should be against the law to pay someone less than 8 dollars per hour in this city, state and country. It a shame the city of Jacksonville doesn't have any empathy for all citizens. It's a shame the people of Jacksonville allow the Duval County School Board to run a failed school system. The new vision for Downtown Jacksonville doesn't include plans for all citizen's and families of this city.

The blueprint for prosperity defines its main goal as "raising per capita income". The Blueprint for Prosperity 135 strategies doesn't make sense and is not logical in form, principle and timeline. The templates for the blueprint must consist of 4 point only:

The spirit of the Blueprint
Two Parent Family - Love, quality time, discipline, and respect for parent.
Communicate to understand - Better community awareness
Relationship through mutual respect - Study Groups/JHRC
A Downtown that caters to the needs of all nationality and incomes in this city.

The Mindset of the Blueprint
Impact today - raising minimum wages to $8 per hour
Free Personal Finance class throughout the city - Community Centers, churches, and schools
Revamp and re-focus the Duval County School System
Change curriculum from a testing mentality to a career development curriculum at third Grade, base on early reading; understanding basic math and early development testing at the ages of 5.
Move 6th grade back to elementary school
The city government, Chamber of Commerce, School Board and the concerned community need to have better control of the negativity/crime in the media (radio, television, nightclubs and new strip clubs zoning and location laws).
Small business Development focusing on Global Commerce -Import/Export

A Proactive Strategist Action Plan
Increase minimum wages today
Increase the Free Enterprise Zone to 32208
Control Daycare Cost base on income
Equality in taxation throughout the city - reinvest in decay community
Affordable Housing throughout Jacksonville based on limited Units per zip code.
Creative and Support Small Business Global Commerce Agenda
Creative, develop and invest into small manufactured companies that sell good in America and Abroad.
Teach Small business owners about the use of technology to grow business. Require all new small business licensees to take a free 10 hours business startup course through the Small Business Centers.

The Timeline
If the COJ, City Council, School Board, the Chamber of Commerce, and Worksource were really serious about the Blueprint they could make a change overnight by having a genuine concern for all citizens. It would decrease the timeline down to 5 years instead 15 to 20 years. How by the numbers:

An education commitment from the School Board, the City and The Chamber of Commerce to these goals.
Eliminating the magnet program
Placing 6th grade back in elementary
School Dropouts are required to work until 18 years of ages.
Successful completion of one year on Life Development Training Job students will receive a Career Diploma (based on reading and arithmetic comprehension testing).
Improve reading and math skills with focus on engineering, computer programming, science, personal finance, and factual world history of all nationality from the 5th grade.
Total Parental responsibility for student's behavior in School and community until age 18.
a. Students with behavior problems are using up too much valuable resources and time during school hours. Parents need to understand and address their child or children's behavior with the School Board immediately. The COJ, the School Board and the Chamber of Commerce must invest in an Independent Children Behavior Advisor Board. If the student is a continuous problem he
or she must meet with an ICBA interviewer. A three step program:
1. Meet with an interviewer
2. Meet with a second interviewer
3. Meet with the 3-panel group for final interview.
The interview will address the parent or parents separately on the first two interviews and together with student on the third interview. Once a report is completed the school board can determine what type of curriculum is best
for that student. If his or her behavior cannot be controlled then the student must get a job or be expelled from school at the ages of 15.
Better Paying Jobs
Increase minimum wages to $8 per hours.
Equality in pay or salary regardless of the nationality.
Invest resources in finding companies all over the world who would like to put their manufactures company here, and import/export goods through the Jacksonville Port and CSX.
Give companies with 50 employees or more tax incentives to open near the airport or inside a Free Enterprise Zone.

Jacksonville powerbrokers need to stop thinking one-dimensional. It's time we start placing jobs near big community blocks. It helps eliminate parking fees, commute time, save money on gas and mileages, plus it put you closer to your homes, schools, church and children during the daytime. A school curriculum focusing on engineering, medicine, science, and technology application. Promote Junior Achievement, FCCJ Skill Training Programs, JaxBuild, and Student of the Week Program and develop a Young Entrepreneur/Inventor Business Plan Incentive Program.

In summary:
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to increase per capita income. Once the city powerbrokers embrace equality for all citizens and the lukewarm African American leaderships wake up from the abyss of self-gain. Until those forces (The powerbrokers and African American leaderships) get serious and embrace each others in action, substances and the media the blueprint is just a pipe dream. I don't believe in giving anyone something for free but for over 150 years blacks and people of colors in this city has been treated like second-class citizens. Most is due to a small percent of white families owning a big part of this city political power block until post civil rights. The problems facing most African Americans since post civil rights are self inflicted due to family disconnection, education and financial disempowerment cause by a self centered materialistic mentality. Starting from the black boule's leaderships, the self centered pastors and lack of a two- parent households in the black community. Its time we as a people (City of Jacksonville) who says they have love and believes in the Spirit of the Holy Ghost stand-up for equality for all citizens regardless of nationality. Once we achieve this worthy endeavor of one love for all, the need for a blueprint will not
be necessary in the present or the future.
Stanley Scott
Doc3507@msn.com

Reader response: Role of Churches

2006-04-26T13:53:00.000-04:00

Committee member Doc Scott offers these points for discussion:

Question: Why do this station feel that the church has the answer to the issue facing crime in Jacksonville.

Comment: My perspective is that the black church is part of the problem not the answer. The black church in Jacksonville is disconnected from the black community in spiritually, mentally and physically. If the black church was really concern about crime in the community especially the black community. The black church would be proactive instead of reactive.

As far as the sheriff department is concern the sheriff must develop male neighborhood action groups train in police tactics, communication and peace making skills.

The city must develop a citywide unit for at risk kids to meet and learn to share their inner feeling concerning there lack of self esteem. We must develop a plan to enlist at risk kids to some type of military duties within the state of Florida.

Stop the racism and good old boy network with employment and politics in the city is a good start to develop a city of love.

Reader response: Compassion for Life

2006-04-26T13:52:00.000-04:00

Committee member Doc Scott would like to share these thoughts:

How can you say you love god and have no compassion for life. Ron Littlepage says it’s the best in his article on April 18, 2006, Times Union;
It's a reputation that's not going unnoticed.
A recent Associated Press news story said Jacksonville "has been Florida's murder capital 12 of the past 17 years and has a higher murder rate than such former crime capitals as New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Atlanta."
"Its rate of 9.4 murders per 100,000 residents in 2004," the AP said, "places in the top 10 among U.S. cities with a population of 500,000 or larger, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics."
Some are claiming this year's high murder rate is an aberration. I don't think so.
Where is the outcry from the ministers?
Where is the outcry from our elected officials?
Where is the outcry from the city's business leaders?
Where is the outcry from the community as a whole?
There is something terribly wrong.
Let me tell you what wrong from the frontline. Its simple math something you learn on the 8 grade level in school “causes and effect”. A combination of elements coming together to produce a negative result = crime. These elements consist of four points that must be address today before we can decrease violence citywide.
Discrimination
1. Taxation
2. Government
3. Employment
True African American Leadership
1. Family
2. Community
3. Politic – City and State
Education
1. True African American History
2. 6th grade on the elementary level
3. Revamp the School Board into a School System with the FCCJ and UNF President on the Executive Committee with veto power.
4. Eliminates the magnet program – all school should be a C grade or better.
Community
1. A call for double times no bond for murder, robbery with a gun and assault with a deadly weapon.
2. A call for economic justice in the lower income area of Jacksonville.
3. A call for education equality for all citizens.
4. A call for substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities.
5. A call for jobs and housing for ex-offender.
6. Donation to all community based support groups for dropouts and ex-offenders with proven success.
7. Parental support groups for married couples and singles.

Crime is a Jacksonville problem not just a black problem. If the Jacksonville community feels that this is a black problem. Then the first thing we need to address is racism in Jacksonville. I say racism is part of it but only represent a third of the problem. The problem is not education, jobs, housing or poverty all are negative effects of a bigger problem for blacks. As a messenger who is black on the frontline in the black community. I understand the real reason why the murder rate is so high. There is no true black leadership in the community. The black boule’s ministers self centered mentality motivated by sex, power and money is the real crime in the black community. The black church is and will always be the rock of direction for blacks in a foreign country call America. Also, another element that contributes to the black high crime rate is a class division among blacks. The number one element that has the biggest impact on the crime rate in the black community is; the war between mature male and female relationship within the black family. Too many mature blacks are consumer with a self preservation and materialistic possession than building a strong family together. To many divorce parent has a love-hate relationship with their ex-spouse causing a negative effect on the child or children in the home. Crime, poverty, a lack of a quality education for lower income earner, better jobs and housing is the negative effect of a high divorce rate among blacks. Until the divorce rate decrease among blacks family to less than 50 percent; the crime rate will continue to increase in the black community. United proactive black leadership from the spiritual, business, educational and political level can help restore the black family stability within 5 years.

Crime is still a Jacksonville problem because we all are citizens regardless of race.

Stanley Scott
doc3507@msn.com

Reader response: Types of Crimes

2006-04-26T13:50:00.000-04:00

Doc Scott, from the Reducing Violence Study Committee, would like to share these thoughts. Any comments?

The truth will set you free; let talk about crime in Jacksonville. There are three types of crimes going on in this city perpetrate on one race of people. These crimes have elements of racism, nepotism, deception, politic and religion. Too often we focus on the physical form of crime in Jacksonville. This city overlook the real crimes that have long term affect on this city; because it affect only one race of people. This crime involved taking money from the lower to middle income people on the Northside; and given to the boule’s class of black ministers or the political connected republican black folks in this city.
Times Union Article
There are many reasons the decision by Mayor John Peyton and the City Council to give $1.1 million of taxpayer money to First Timothy Baptist Church to build a gym is just flat-out wrong. The gym will sit on church-owned property, and $600,000 of Lockett-Felder's bond money will help pay for it.
As has been reported, the push by Councilwoman Pat Lockett-Felder to give the money to the church, which is pastored by the politically connected Frederick Newbill and which counts Councilman Reggie Fullwood as a member of its congregation, overrode an earlier decision by the council and mayor that determined district bond money should only be used on publicly owned property. Ken Hurley, the president of the Jacksonville chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, raised another question in an e-mail to council members and Peyton.
He asked if the deal violates the part of the state constitution that reads:
"No revenue of the state or any other political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution."
There's another fundamental question Peyton and council members need to answer.
The remainder of the $1.1 million gift to the church - $500,000 - comes from the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Trust Fund. You may remember that when voters approved the Better Jacksonville Plan, they approved $25 million to go into the economic development trust fund.
A slick booklet promoting the Better Jacksonville Plan called it "a growth management, transportation, environmental and economic development plan for the future."
The ordinance implementing the Better Jacksonville Plan said the trust fund is for "targeted economic development."
The ordinance also said the money raised by the half-cent increase in the sales tax would only be used for programs listed in the ordinance. Economic development is listed over and over. A church gym isn't mentioned anywhere.
How can Peyton and the council so easily ignore what voters voted on and spend Better Jacksonville Plan money on a gym that has nothing to do with economic development? Jacksonville.com
History
This city racism and nepotism goes back as far as the early 1900’s; when the mayor of Jacksonville at that time and other white powerbrokers agree to keep blacks in one part of town. This side of town was full of paper mills, chemical companies, dump sites and other harmful manufacturers. The crime here is racism through redlining communities by races. The affect on the health condition of the people (blacks and poor whites) in those area are affect their family today in school and the communities. All over the Northside of Jacksonville are harmful toxic sites, Jefferson Street Pool, Lonnie Miller Park, and schools on the Northwest side of Jacksonville.
2006, over a hundred year’s later racism, and nepotism still existed in the Mayor’s office. When will we as a city have a government that care about all people and believes in doing the right thing in Jacksonville regardless of party, races or income? The 90 percent of the people on the Northside are very good citizens just like the people who live in Queen Harbor, Sawgrass or anywhere else in Jacksonville. To be honesty I would say they are better because they take the little they have and do fantastic jobs to raise there family. The problem with most people in the city they let racism, nepotism, politic and religion keep them from seeing the truth.
Let talk about the crimes that take place in Jacksonville against blacks.
1. First, Political crime against blacks (Mayor Office, Black Ministers and Politicians). Political crime is the most criminal element there is because it affect hundred, or thousands of people for years to come. This is part of why we have violence crime, poverty driven workforce, high risk health condition for a lot of the people on the Northside and economic inequality.
a. The Better Jacksonville Plan sold to the black community by the black republican ministers and politicians as a good plan for the city. In the process they receive grants or economic development money for their own personal endeavor; millions of dollars that should be allocated for the Northwest Economic Development.
b. The money Northside taxpayers needs to improve the quality of life for its community has been redefined with harder stipulations for blacks and some whites to get the money. As the quality of life improves for the Northside it affects the total essence of the area; family, education, jobs, environment and provide a sense of respect for the city.
c. How could the Mayor office and the city government allow for a church to receive 1.1 million dollars for a gym on private ground? Taxpayer’s dollars needed for more policemen, economic development programs for lower to middle
class citizens and ex-offenders, reading and math tutoring at community centers and schools on the Northside, youth and ex-offenders support group and facilities for Mad dad.
d. How could the mayor cut the money to a grassroots organization like Mad Dad and other who are fighting on the frontline to decrease crime and a support group to ex-offenders? Where is the logic in that somebody tells me because my head is smoking trying to figure it out?
2. Second, most dangerous crime against blacks in this city is the boule black ministers. The crimes they commit have a bigger impact and affect black people in all area of their life for a lifetime. We have black political connected religion leaders selling out to political parties for self gain. The last of the true black ministers of post civil right era were connected to the black communities not by just location but spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. The Black ministers represent the light in a dark room for most black people from the beginning of slavery in America. They would put there life on the line for righteousness and equality for black people. Today, we have the Bishop Dollar’s who will sell his mother and religion for a dollar, Mercedes, gold ring, gold watch and a pair of snake shoes. Most Black Ministers today are religion pimps in the black church. They receive in the name of Jesus give back like Pharaohs; spreading misdirection and misinformation to their black constituents in the church through emotional preaching and preying on sisters hate for the brothers. Instead of bring the black family together to combat the issues that is destroying us as a people. Black ministers self centered mentality bases on sex, money and power is helping to add to the black crime waves, the poverty, mis-education of blacks, the lack of business ownership and divorces in the black family.
How can you teach religion when you are not empathy or understand the love and the personal sacrifice it require, Bishop Dollar?
The Black Church emerged from the period of slavery as the most stable and dominant institutional sphere in black communities in the United States. The Africans who were brought as slaves to the New World came as human beings who were already socialized in their own African traditions and values. But it was not until the early decades of the 19th century, during the Second Great Awakening, or national religious revival, that many of the slaves became converted. But for most whites, Christianity was largely viewed as an instrument of social control, to produce "obedient and docile" slaves.
While the social control aspects of Christianity were quite effective when intermeshed with other constraints such as laws and black codes, illiteracy, and an omnipresent threat of extermination, religion became the only institutional area in which African slaves also exercised a measure of freedom, despite the many efforts to hinder or control their religious life.
They also developed their own leaders so that the "invisible institution"—the underground slave religion—could effectively merge with the rise of institutional black churches in the latter half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. As a consequence of these historical factors, religion among black people became the only institutional area that was permitted to develop to any significant degree. Finally, as the only significant social institution other than the black family, the Black Church took on multiple roles and burdens that differed from its white counterpart. While the Baptists founded the first black churches, it was the Methodists who organized the first black denominations, which also became the first national associations for African Americans.
Political Leadership
As the most educated and best trained in leadership skills, black clergy
emerged as the prime leaders of black communities nationwide in the 18th and
19th centuries, not only in religious matters but also in the secular
spheres of politics, economics, education, and socio-cultural activities.
During the period of slavery, efforts at liberation and abolitionism were
often led by religious leaders, as exemplified by the three largest slave
revolts in American history, namely those revolts led by Gabriel Prosser in
1800 in Richmond, Virginia; Denmark Vesey in 1822 in Charleston, South
Carolina; and Nat Turner in 1831 in Southampton County, Virginia. Black
churches were not only used as secret meeting places to plot slave uprisings
but they also served as Underground Railroad stops for abolitionists. With
the end of the black franchise in Southern states in the late 19th century,
black people continued to vote in their churches, electing bishops,
preachers, deacons, and other church officers. During the Reconstruction
period (1865-1877), the phenomenon of the "preacher-politician" arose with
the election of the first black senator, the Reverend Hiram Revels of
Mississippi; and congressman, the Reverend Richard Cain of Georgia. The
pattern of the preacher-politician continued throughout the 20th century,
for example, the election of such notable figures as congressmen Adam
Clayton Powell Jr., William Gray, John Lewis, and Floyd Flake, as well as
the presidential campaigns of Reverend Jesse Jackson in 1984 and 1988. Both
black and white politicians have also discovered the value of speaking at
political forums at black churches during election campaigns to mobilize the
black vote. During the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s,
black churches provided many of the leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.; they also served as the location for members to mobilize for the
movement, because the buildings were the only ones large enough to
accommodate mass meetings in the highly segregated urban and rural areas of
the South.
Economic Development
In the economic sphere, black churches has been involved in economic
development enterprises and in creating economic institutions. As W. E. B.
Du Bois wrote in 1907, the study of "economic cooperation among Negroes must
begin with the Church group." Beyond the economic cooperation required in
building the churches themselves, other economic projects were created. In
1866 five lay leaders of the Bethel AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland,
pooled their funds to develop the first black-owned dry dock company and
joint stock institution after black ship caulkers were fired because whites
had protested their job competition. After the collapse of the Freedman's
Savings and Trust Company in 1874 (see Freedman's Bank), which resulted in
the loss of the bounties paid to black Civil War soldiers and the savings
accounts of many black people, the churches helped to develop some 50
black-owned banks beginning in 1888 and lasting until the Great Depression
of the 1930s. Together with the financial resources of fraternal lodges and
mutual aid and burial societies, the churches also helped to create the
first black life insurance companies, such as the North Carolina Mutual Life
Insurance Company, the Atlanta Life Insurance Company, and the Afro-American
Industrial Insurance Society of Jacksonville, Florida. A highly segregated
society resulted in the creation of parallel institutions by African
Americans. In the late 20th century black churches have become the largest
builders and sponsors of housing, pooling federal, state, and private funds.
The 5,000 single-family, mixed-income dwellings of the Nehemiah Houses of
East Brooklyn, New York, are one example.
Education
Even more than economic projects, black clergy and churches have always
viewed education as the key to upward mobility in American society. Churches
have often doubled as schools, beginning with church school on Sunday
morning for children and adults. The first lessons in reading and writing
often occurred in Sunday school. Morehouse College began as a school in the
basement of the Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, while
Spelman College was founded in the basement of the Friendship Baptist Church
of Atlanta. Tuskegee University also started as a school in one-room shanty
adjacent to the AME Zion Church in Tuskegee, Alabama. Just as Harvard and
Yale were founded for the education of the clergy, the curricula of many of
the best black colleges like Fisk University and Howard University were
steeped in religious and moral instruction. All of the black denominations
founded their own schools and seminaries. Besides serving as places of
worship, black churches have also performed other functions. The first black
newspaper, Freedom's Journal, was started by the Reverend Samuel Cornish in
1827. The first speeches or musical recitals in public for black children
occurred in the sanctuaries of black churches. Black artists often exhibited
their work in the dining halls of the churches because the public art
museums and private galleries were closed to them. However, the true genius
of the Black Church resides in the fact that it has given status, dignity,
and respect to common people who were often invisible in American society.
How can you say you love God when people are hurting all around you Bishop
Dollar?
3. The third crime that has an affect on the whole city is a School Board
build on nepotism and racism. It elementary when it comes to the crime
perpetrated on the communities by the school board especially against
blacks. The School Board need to be revamp to remove the old racist element
and install an open minded proactive system that caters to all students and
learning levels. No one should go to school twelve years and graduate
reading on a third grade level with no life skills or training. All schools
should be on a C grade level or better and the whole communities should
demand that from the School Board nothing less will do.
It's not the duty of the School Board to deal with discipline in schools.
Disciplining duties fall totally on the parent, community leaders and
churches surrounding that school.
a. A school system incorporating a proactive Think Tank made up of business
leaders, religion leaders, PTA President from each school, UNF and FCCJ
representatives.
b. We need to revamp and re-focus the Duval County School Board into a Duval
County School System; changing curriculum from a testing mentality to a
career development curriculum at third Grade, base on early reading;
understanding basic math and early development testing at the ages of 8.
c. Move 6th grade back to the elementary level
d. Eliminating the magnet program. When you remove the best students from a
community you take away role models. All Duval County Schools should be a C
grade or better regardless of the location. A proactive school system use
technology, community and parental involvement, protect and compensation
teachers and require the best for all students.
e. Improve reading and math skills with focus on engineering, computer
programming, science, personal finance, and factual world history of all
nationality from the 5th grade.
f. School Dropouts should be required to work until 18 years of ages. A
successful completion of a one year in Life Development Training Job
students will receive a Career Diploma (based on reading and arithmetic
comprehension testing).
g. Total Parental responsibility for student’s behavior in School and
community until the age of eighteen.
h. FCCJ is an excellence Community College for all students to advance
regardless of income. The community needs to highlight this resource in the
daily print and visual media.
• Students with behavior problems are using up too much valuable resources
and time during school hours. Parents need to understand and address their
child or children’s behavior with the School Board immediately. The COJ, the
School Board and the Chamber of Commerce must invest in an Independent
Children Behavior Advisor Board. If the student is a continuous problem he
or she must meet with an ICBA interviewer. A three step program:
1. Meet with an interviewer
2. Meet with a second interviewer
3. Meet with the 3-panel group for final interview.
• The interviewers will address the parent or parents separately on the
first two interviews and together with student on the third interview. Once
a report is completed the school board can determine what type of curriculum
is best for that student. If his or her behavior cannot be controlled then
the student must get a job or be expelled from school at the ages of 15.

Everything we do in life consists of causes and effect that include crime
too. The violence in Jacksonville has many elements for blacks that
different from our white counterpart. The crime wave in Jacksonville
requires the whole community working together. It requires that we admit to
our mistakes for a better day and life for the city and families especially
the youth under 13 years of ages. We can decrease crime and be a role model
city to the country if we will destroy racism, nepotism and find some
empathy for all citizens regardless of races.
Stanley L. Scott
Doc3507@msn.com

Further Discussion on Homicide

2006-04-26T13:49:00.000-04:00

Professor Michael Hallett has created a website to help further discussion on reducing homicides. Go to http://www.unf.edu/coas/ccj/Faculty/Hallett/homicide.html for more information.

Seventh meeting: Youth and violence

2006-04-26T13:45:00.000-04:00

How safe are our kids? What can we do to keep them safe? At this meeting, Dolly Dillin from the Jacksonville Children's Commission and Betty Burney from the Duval County School Board shared their thoughts about the challenges youth are facing today and the things we as adults might do to protect them and steer them away from violence.

You can read the meeting summary here. What are your thoughts about the meeting?

Sixth meeting: Family violence

2006-04-17T11:03:00.000-04:00

Ellen Siler, from Hubbard House, and Sallie O'Hara, from the Neighborhood Partnership, discussed the impact of domestic violence on Jacksonville's homicide rate. Several key programs have helped decrease domestic-violence-related homicides by 37 percent, even while the overall murder rate has been increasing. However, many of these programs are due to lose their funding. Ellen Siler's presentation is available here.

Of particular interest to the group was the research that showed that children who witness violence are far more likely to become violent, and the opportunity to intervene with these children early to help them not learn to be violent.

Committee discussion focused on the need to continue to support prevention programs, especially onces that are having demonstrable success. They also discussed creating a divorce court, similar to the drug court, that would provide some consistency in how domestic violence cases are treated.

One committee member ended the session by discussing his reaction to the murder of his son, and his initial feeling that we should be talking about murder on the streets, not domestic violence. However, he realized that we need to stop violence where it begins, and we can't deal with violence in the community if we don't stop the violence in our homes.

What are your thoughts?

Fifth meeting: Safe Neighborhoods

2006-04-17T10:53:00.000-04:00

Fred McKinnies, from the Jacksonville Housing Authority, Alvin Mitchell, community leader from the Eastside, and Candace Moddy, from WorkSource, addressed the group about neighborhood safety and the role of employment opportunity in addressing violence.

The meeting summary is available here. Committee members were particularly concerned by the differences in employment rates among white and black citizens of Jacksonville, especially lower employment among black males. More information about these disparities is available here.

What are your thoughts about employment opportunities and neighborhood safety?

Fourth meeting: State's Attorney and Public Defender

2006-03-31T13:52:00.000-05:00

“I'm not going to pull any punches and I'm going to tell you exactly how I feel, but I'm very, very frustrated,” State Attorney Harry Shorstein told the crowd Thursday night at the JCCI study on Reducing Violence. The 85 citizens in attendance asked pointed questions of Shortstein and Patrick McGuinness, of the Public Defender's Office, as they tried to find answers to the rising murder rate in Jacksonville.

Other communities may have answers for Jacksonville, both speakers told the study committee. Shorstein suggested examining how San Diego has implemented its Community Oriented Policing approach. McGuinness pointed to the Delancey Street program, now in five cities around the country, as a possible self-supporting model to turn lives around. He also pointed to a new Gun Bounty Program as a possible new way to get firearms off the street.

What are your ideas? Where should Jacksonville look for model programs to reduce violence and homicides?

Third Meeting: Sheriff's Office Presents

2006-03-24T14:53:00.000-05:00

On March 23, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office shared with the study committee the work that they were doing to reduce violence and respond to violent crime. They highlighted their work with the Crime Prevention Unit, including Neighborhood Watch, Business Watch, and the Crime Posse; Citizen's Self Defense classes; Drug Abatement Response Teams; Project Safe Neighborhoods; Sheriff's Advisory Council; Police Athletic League; and many more. The complete presentation is available here. More information about the Community Affairs Division of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is available here.

The committee also heard from the Homicide unit about the kinds of murders happening in Jacksonville, who the victims are, who the perpetrators are, and how law enforcement is responding to the problems.

For those who attended the meeting, what are your thoughts about what we heard? For those who were not able to attend, what are your questions?

Second meeting: March 16

2006-03-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

At the second meeting of the Reducing Violence study, the committee heard more about risk factors for violence.

Bill Livingood and Rebecca Filipowicz presented health and social statistics on Duval County’s population to demonstrate and quantify the risk factors for violent behavior in our community. Deaths due to any cause are of concern to the Health Department. Homicide is of special concern because it falls within the top ten causes of death in the county.

Several risk factors overlap in the county’s densely-populated urban core and western zones, especially the lack of education, poverty, and family disorganization. Economic, education and health risk factors are among the most critical risks, and serious racial disparities persist in all three areas. Violence prevention efforts require attention to deep social issues.

Shelley Grant, with the State's Attorney and who teaches sociology at Jacksonville University, focused on the risk factors for juveniles. Chronic juvenile offenders are often the violent adult criminals of tomorrow. A close look at the lives of habitual criminals to determine commonalities revealed correlations between risk factors in the areas of family, school, drug use and pre-delinquent behavior and becoming a habitual criminal. Now, juvenile offenders are assessed for these risks.

Martha Pellino, from the Mayor's Hispanic Advisory Board, reviewed the unique risk factors for violent behavior faced by Duval County’s Hispanic and other minority populations. Hispanics comprise a majority of the minority population, and independent sources estimate Hispanics make up approximately 8% of our population. We have seen an influx of Hispanic construction workers drawn by large-scale developments in the area. The pace of in-migration is expected to quicken in the short term.

Few hard statistics are available on Hispanics. Anecdotally, we’re told of disproportionate rates of poverty and the lack of education. Undocumented workers, mainly day laborers and construction workers, become victims of crimes of opportunity perhaps because many are thought to carry large sums of cash and are fearful of reporting crimes. The language barrier further complicates matters by making many social services, including police protection, inaccessible. In 2004, 117 Hispanics were robbery victims. Like others, Hispanics are victims of domestic violence and of murder. Eight Hispanics were murdered in 2005 and three so far this year.

Committee members suggested other risk factors to consider, including the influence of violent acts portrayed in the media and in violent video games. While many of the risk factors have been with us a long time (especially poverty, unemployment, lack of education, trafficking in illegal substances), the latest rise in murder is of great concern. Prevention efforts are important, but so is the need to do something right now to stop the killing.

What do you think Jacksonville needs to do?

Reducing Violence Study Begins Tonight

2006-03-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

At 5:15 p.m. today at the Main Library downtown will be the first meeting of the Reducing Violence: A Community Response study. Participation is expected to be high.

This morning, the front page of The Florida Times-Union covered the importance of the study. The editorial page referred to those who were willing to volunteer as part of the study committee as "detectives" and urged them forward.

Tonight Michael Hallett, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of North Florida, will address the committee and give an overview of the issue. His presentation is available online.

For those who cannot attend the study meetings, this blog is an opportunity to comment on the study as it progresses, adding your input to the learning process. Information from your comments will be provided to study committee members to complement the research and resource experts they will be hearing from.

So tell us, Jacksonville: What does the community need to do to reduce violence and lower the homicide rate in Jacksonville?

JCCI announces new study, Reducing Violence: A Community Response

2006-02-17T10:55:00.000-05:00

On February 15, 2006, Sheriff John Rutherford held a press conference to announce the new citizen-led study, Reducing Violence: A Community Response. "I can feel a tremendous amount of synergy in the community saying, 'Let's do this,'" said Sheriff Rutherford.

Both the Sheriff and State Attorney Harry Shorstein have pledged their support to the study. The Florida Times-Union says JCCI is ideally equipped to study this issue.

The study will run Thursday evenings, 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. from March 9 through June 29, at the Main Library. Thanks to Central Parking Systems, parking will be free for all participants.

Lois Chepenik and Raymond Reid will chair the study. Meetings are open to the public, and all interested residents are invited to join the study committee. For more information or to be part of the study, call (904) 396-3052 or e-mail cynthia@jcci.org.