IL State Rep. Justin Slaughter and State Sen. Robert Peters: ‘Community Violence Intervention Saves Lives. Keep Funding It For Public Safety’s Sake.’
Illinois State Rep. Justin Slaughter of the 27th District and State Sen. Robert Peters of the 13th District recently co-authored an op-ed for the Chicago Sun-Times affirming the effectiveness of community violence intervention (CVI) legislation and illustrating the great need for continued investment.
“We know violence intervention works. We know it saves lives,” wrote Slaughter and Peters. “It is time to make community violence intervention a permanent feature of Illinois public safety.”
Slaughter and Peters are co-sponsors of the Reimagine Public Safety Act, a 2021 law that allocates state funding to vital CVI services that work in tandem with traditional law enforcement, in an effort to decrease extreme levels of community violence. These services include street outreach, case management, behavioral health, victim services, legal aid, and more.
The impact after just a few years is considerable, say the lawmakers. The op-ed shares data from the Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research & Science at Northwestern University. Thanks to collaborative efforts between the Chicago Police Department and other violence prevention entities, and of Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P), a coalition of 15 local CVI-engaged organizations convened by the Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, “nearly 400 shootings over four years” have been prevented.
But this legislation doesn’t just save lives; it saves money, write the lawmakers, with gun violence costing the city of Chicago $6 to $7 billion annually. “Put that up against the average cost of recruiting, supporting, treating, educating and training an individual at risk, which is about $30,000, and the return on investment could be as high as $20 to one.”