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Florida Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson believes the answer to preventing crime in the Black community is clear.
As the chair of the Caucus on the Commission of the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, Rep. Wilson organized a Congressional briefing in November to chart a path toward solutions that don’t expand mass incarceration.
“Experts, lawmakers and practitioners alike all came together to unequivocally state that the so-called tough on crime policies do not make people safe,” Rep. Wilson told The Black Wall Street Times.
The briefing highlighted a study about the positive impact crime prevention organizations have on local crime rates.
The study, “Community and the Crime Decline: The Causal Effect of Local Nonprofits on Violent Crime,” was published in the American Sociological Review. It analyzed crime rates for 264 cities over a 20-year period.
Notably, it found that for every 10 additional community-based organizations focused on preventing crime in a city with at least 100,000 residents, the murder rate dropped 9 percent, the violent crime rate fell by 6 percent, and the property crime rate fell by 4 percent.
The study was published in 2017.
“If we know this, why aren’t communities lined up with these important programs,” Rep. Wilson said.
National vs. Local Crime Rates
Federal data shows violent crime fell on a national level in 2022, but the news is hardly comforting for local communities experiencing an uptick in robberies, carjackings and homicides.
Specifically, the FBI’s annual crime reporting statistics, published Dec. 16, show crime rates have fallen in nearly every category after rising during the pandemic. Nationally, the murder rate fell 6.7 percent. Violent crime, which includes rape and sexual assault, robbery, assault and murder, fell 4 percent.
Meanwhile, despite sensationalized headlines of major companies closing stores, the property crime rate also fell by half a percent during the same period.
However, the decrease in crime hasn’t been experienced equally. Preventing crime remains a major hurdle to overcome.
The murder rate fell in every region of the U.S. except the West, where it rose 8.5 percent, according to FBI data. In addition, property crime did rise sharply by 7.5 percent in the West and 8.3 percent in the Northeast.
Even the nation’s Capital hasn’t been immune from rising crime. According to the Metropolitan D.C. Police, homicides increased 35 percent from 2022 to 2023.
Carjackings have taken center stage in the media, as they’ve increased from 462 in 2022 to 942 as of December 20, 2023, the MPDC data dashboard shows.
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Preventing crime by pulling at the roots
When it comes to why crime has risen in certain areas, Congresswoman Wilson has a few ideas.
“We attribute it to heightened firearm accessibility, the disruption of the social fabric caused by the pandemic, and escalating police mistrust following the death of George Floyd,” she told The Black Wall St. Times. “Also people are dealing with a lot of grief and despair leading to anger, outbursts, road rage and tempers flaring.”
Over 1,159,864 Americans have died from Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Black Americans suffered a disproportionately high number of deaths, which means Black children are more likely to have lost a parent, guardian or caretaker than youth from any other ethnic group.
Rep. Wilson believes solutions to preventing crime “do not lie in the same old policies that created the school-to-prison pipeline and mass incarceration.”
Rep. Wilson: “If you want to prevent crime in the Black community, help us.”
Conversations around crime often center around FBI statistics that show the highest rate of crime victims and crime perpetrators involve Black Americans. Missing from that conversation, however, is the fact that those same communities are also most likely to have the least amount of resources, including community-based programs, parks, schools and jobs.
2024 presidential candidates like Donald Trump are vowing to expand the decades-old “tough on crime” policies that led to Black boys growing up without fathers. Instead, Rep. Wilson hopes her colleagues and communities around the nation will consider a different approach to preventing crime.
“I’m tasking this nation, if you want to prevent crime in the Black community, help us. We have the solutions. And it’s not talk. It’s action,” Rep. Wilson said. “It’s investment; It’s lifting up Black men and boys who, for so many years, have just been held down.”
To watch the full briefing, visit this link: https://www.facebook.com/RepWilson/videos/329835733012067
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