David M. Kennedy (author)

David M. Kennedy is a criminologist, professor, and author, specializing in crime prevention among inner city gangs.

Biography

Kennedy is the author of Don't Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America, published in 2011 by Bloomsbury USA (ISBN 978-1608192649).^[1] He has been profiled in New Yorker,^[2] interviewed on National Public Radio^[3] and 60 Minutes, and his book has been reviewed in The New Republic.^[4] He is the author of a previous book, Deterrence and Crime Prevention: Reconsidering the Prospect of Sanction, published in 2008 by Routledge (ISBN 978-0203892022). This book has been characterized as a "page-turner" despite being an essentially academic publication. He is a professor of criminal justice, and the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control, at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.^[5] He is the recipient of two Webber Seavey awards from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, two Innovations in American Government awards from the Kennedy School of Government, and a Herman Goldstein Problem-Oriented Policing Award. He has influenced the approaches to drug enforcement of the administrations of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He has spoken to many organizations, including the United States Congress, Scotland Yard, the National District Attorneys' Association, and the United States Conference of Mayors.^[6]

Don't Shoot

Kennedy describes a program, sometimes referred to as Ceasefire, which he introduced in Cincinnati, Ohio to combat drug and gang related violence in poor, predominantly black neighborhoods. The program had three components. Recognized gang members would be brought in under probation or parole authority, and given an opportunity to listen to concerned members of their own community express their desire for the violence to stop. Social workers would offer services to help them detach from the cycle of violence, and the police would assure them that each gang that continued to engage in violence, starting with the most violent, would be effectively targeted and removed from the streets. They were asked to relay this threefold message to their fellow gang members. The program resulted in a dramatic reduction in violence, and cooperation between gang members and police, where they would report to the police on new, aggressive gangs, and ride with officers to help identify members.

Personal life

Kennedy lives in Brooklyn, New York.

See also

Broken windows theory, which Kennedy has critiqued as effective at crime reduction, but alienating to the communities targeted by it.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
4. ^ [4]
5. ^ [5]
6. ^ [6]

External links

• Don't Shoot at Bloomsbury USA website
• Kennedy at City University New York website

Persondata
Name	Kennedy, David M.
Alternative names
Short description	Professor of crime prevention
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