NJ To Hire 'Violence Interventionists' To Reduce Urban Gun Crimes

NEW JERSEY — One of Gov. Phil Murphy's goals in his second term in office is reducing the gun violence that plagues nearly all of New Jersey's largest cities.

To this end, he directed an additional $20 million in funding to New Jersey cities with the highest rates of gun violence.

Newark has the most shootings out of any city in the state, followed by Camden, Trenton and Paterson, according to the most recent September gun violence report from the NJ State Police.

The $20 million will be paid in state and federal grants through the Community-Based Violence Intervention (CBVI) Program and Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP).

Murphy said these programs are meant to "reduce cycles of violence at their source." He said many of the ideas below are brand new and have never been tried before.

Some of the following has already been implemented in 11 cities across New Jersey, many of which are the state’s leading centers of gun violence.

This new allocation of $20 million gives them more funding to do the following:

• The state will hire what it is calling "violence interventionists," people who are meant to identify and stop shootings in urban areas before they take place.
• These violence interventionists are tasked with identifying young people and teens in urban areas who are at a high risk for committing violence, and working with them "to stop the trigger from being pulled," said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin.
• The state is also hiring experienced individuals to create safe passageways for students traveling to and from school in areas plagued by violent crime. This October, a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in East Orange just after school let out. He was fatally shot three times as he walked home from school.

In Maplewood in June 2021, an 18-year-old Columbia High School senior was shot to death on the school's ball fields. A 17-year-old student was also shot, but survived. They were shot by a 20-year-old young man who lives in Newark, who was convicted of the murder and will be deported after he serves his prison term, as he is not a U.S. citizen. According to news reports, the Newark man claimed he shot the pair while defending his younger brother from bullying.

• Community organizations will now have more funding to hire "credible messengers" to work with guidance counselors in schools to help connect youth experiencing trauma and who are at risk to commit future violence.
• The state will fund grief counseling for children of adults who are killed in shootings. This is also meant to deter ideas of retaliation and future shootings as the child grows up.
• As part of New Jersey's Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program, when someone is shot and taken to a hospital, social workers and others will now meet at the victim's bedside in the aftermath, to connect them to critical aid meant to prevent retaliation.