#while i was thinking abt frisk’s life on the surface

[ask-trialduo]

trying to imagine what career frisk could have other than hitman that’d get them to lv 13… no chance in hell they became a cop, so what does that even leave? mob enforcer? terrorist? doubt they joined the army… petty criminal? guess it’s not petty anymore if you kill people, though… radical activist? is frisk the claims adjuster?

or maybe they just lived in like. a spectacularly shitty area?? what job can you get other than cop, hitman, or soldier in modern times that result in having to do murder? surely there can’t be that many…

[ * We did not kill anyone on the surface, no. But Violence seems to be measured differently up there. ]

[ * Fascinating, is it not? ]

[undert33th]

I really like your Chara design can you talk about your interpretation of them?

First off tysm !!!!!!! I’m so glad u like them ;0

Second off yes of course ! Here’s a few things about them :

-they r mongolian-american

-they lived in northern Oregon/southern Washington for most of their life on the surface, both in civilization and out on the woods (I’ve always had this idea of Chara being a forager, super self sufficient, it’s one of the first things I developed abt my interpretation of them)

-lived in a group home as a child (along with that they love kids !)

-Chara has inattentive ADHD as well as bipolar disorder

-SpIn’s include: fungi, knives, sewing and geometry (which they suck at but it’s challenging and stimulating and fun work)

-they were 9 when they ‘fell’ underground and 12 when The Plan was enacted

And now for more game related stuff:

-i whole-heartedly support NarraChara

-I know everyone likes to think that Chara has a special connection with Frisk but I like to think that they could interact the same way with every fallen (that includes influencing their choices)

-going with influencing the choices of the fallen they initially did their best to cause the children to fail in hopes of saving their family after death

-they talk Like That at the end of NM to appear more intimidating (by Like That I mean like a walking dictionary)

-the no mercy route was NOT their doing (I like to think of the player as an entity, while Chara is more of just an outside force if that makes any sense? Chara can certainly control Frisk as a vessel, but only of A) frisk has given them that option, B) they’re anxious/angry/emotional enough that their power amps up and allows them to overtake frisks living soul, or C) the player is controlling Frisk through Chara) (I can post more of my ghost stuff if y'all want it just shoot me an ask) back on track for this one the no mercy route was not their doing, but they do give you, the player, not frisk, an ultimatum at the end of the no mercy route because they’re fucking pissed at you

-Goopy Chara? Cool! It’s congealed blood

-Chara only finds out that Flowey is Asriel in true lab which is why its so weird (i cannot for the life of me find the post but its super popular, probably a birdsareblooming or undertale-in-2k19 post)

Personality wise:

-theyre super skittish and jumpy. Startle at everything and wear headphones Everywhere

-theyre semi-verbal and have selective mutism (won’t speak in public at all, rarely in front of Toriel and Asgore, and frequently to Asriel and Frisk)

-with that, they’re super light on their feet and hardly make any noise when moving

-also; very quick and hard to catch

-they tend to fall apart under pressure . In a situation where something is expected of them they’ll either overwork themselves into a burnout or stop functioning all together .

-very logical and has a hard time processing strong emotions (mostly anger)

-does a lot of mimicking and can take a while to trust

-hyper empathetic 

-they can be very charming and good at manipulation; take that how you will

Extra HC’s:

-Chara knows magic! It’s not much, and it really drains them, but Asgore taught them (it’s mostly enacted through hand signs and they know healing and self defense)

-they stim a ton! Cracking their knuckles and chewing are the big ones

-Worn Dagger is a survival knife gifted by an older human brother from before falling who I’m referring to currently as Anthony . It’s got a wood and resin handle and a seven inch blade with gold embossing of flowers (specifically daisies). The sheath is hand made and embroidered by them !

-they know sign language and are constantly making new slang terms . Their signing is so modified and personalized that a lot of people have a hard time understanding what theyre saying

-arthritis in their hands and wrists from a couple injuries that never healed right and constant use of their knife only made it worse (they have these splints designed to look like gloves that hold their wrist in place)

-listen to me . Listen to me. They get their hands on Tetris and never let go . Tetris is the coolest game to them . Have y'all seen Tetris tournaments ? If not watch one they’re addictive . Chara gets in . Chara rocks it . They don’t win but they get up there . They fucking rock at Tetris guys

-also after frisk shows them minecraft they fucking lose it okay . ‘Frisk’ starts making houses or rooms fully furnished for seemingly no-one and Tori only . raises an eyebrow

-they listen to lots of rock and early 2000′s alternative/techno once they can get their hands on it. Frisk hates it so they’ll debate about it a lot

-super sensitive to smell and textures

(ps: its worth mentioning that a lot of my chara is based around myself! chara is one of my comfort characters and so a lot of them is just kinda … me, or who i wish i was on some level owo)

and might as well throw in some thoughts on canon compliant chara:

-we dont really know much about canon chara, but theyve shown to be somewhat manipulative and have a really strong case of suicidal idealization . this sort of ties into the idea of them being a martyr, the future of humans and monsters; thats like a huge fucking load for a kid to carry that i definitely feel could have some effect on mental health. like, telling a kid that they’re the future of two separate races, while theyre also learning about 1) how horrifically humans acted towards monsters and 2)  how the barrier can be broken, especially while already having a tendency towards self harmful actions (i.e: jumping off a fucking mountain), and given how presumably awfully humans treated them in comparison to all the kindness theyve been shown by monsters, I think I’d get some ideas too.

- I’ve already said that i don’t think they’re evil, and I’ll stand by that opinion until the day of my death

-that said, their plan was flawed. I mean, obvi. the things they did, such as attempt suicide on 2 occasions,  and succeed on one with the help of Asriel (as well as taking him down with them !) were wrong for quite a few reasons. I think ultimately they were blinded by the pressure placed on them, whether it was intentional or not, and not having a place to diffuse that anxiety, they sort of absorbed it and honed it into a plan to save everyone important (monsters, who showed some bare minimum decency and kindness) and kill everyone who wasn’t (that being themself.) And, once the first part of that plan succeeded, they sort of exploded; being on the surface, with humans, the people who hurt them, the people they hated, was a good enough motive to release all that built up tension .

-also, i might as well go into no mercy- I think Chara winds up with a lot of power, a lot of anxiety, and anger built up, so when every monster in the underground is killed theyre sort of gaining power bit by bit- until the end, after you kill flowey, and we get to meet them for real . I think they’re pissed off, and they try to convince you that you’re in the right, they thank you, etc; they try to appeal to the player, who throughout the run weve only seen as a mindless killing machine, in an attempt to get you to erase the world and go back on your decisions . When you don’t, they get frustrated, explode, using all the power they’ve gained through the run to erase the file themself.

I just . I dunno . i could talk about chara for hours please ask me more questions about them

[topazshadowwolf]

Troubles With Sleep

Day 2 of Soriel Week! The prompt is “sleep”, so get ready for some rad sleeping action! Also, I made an art, which you could find at the end!

An Undertale Fanfiction by: Topaz Shadowwolf Undertale is owned by: Toby Fox Relationships: Soriel  Rating: Everyone Heads up: Mention of death   

Troubles With Sleep

 For the longest time, Toriel had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. At night, in the quiet hours in the Ruins, her mind would wander to the darker concepts in life. She would see and remember things she could and will never forget. Her mind tortured her with haunting memories of faces, pain, and cries for help; which chased her all-night long.

First, she would remember watching Chara, her beloved adopted child, slowly die an agonizing and horrible death. Nothing she did eased the suffering the innocent soul endured. No matter how much she wanted to take that burden on herself, she could not. After all the times, she promised the child that she would keep them safe, she was powerless to save them.

Then her son. Her dear, sweet son, who was the light of her life. His broken and blooded body was found collapsed and dying on the throne room floor. She remembers being there, by him, as he clung to the empty body of his dead sibling. Sobbing as her healing magic failed to do anything. Then breaking into a hysterical wail as he fell to dust. In the moment he needed her most, she failed him. Twice in one day she failed as a mother.

Asgore, also pained by the loss of his children, acted. While she mourned, he declared war on the humans. How he could do that, after loving and caring for Chara, was beyond her scope of understanding. For the next few days they yelled, argued, and refused to be near each other. For years upon years, he had always come to her for such decisions. She would talk to him, counsel him. And now? He turned from her, ignored her, and refused to listen to her reason; nor, would he back down. Even when she explained the idiocy of it, he did not relent. That was when she left. Turning her back on the one she had come to love with all her heart, and leaving him with his own choice of bloodshed.

Every human child, who fell, she cared for as long as they would stay with her. She made sure they had food, drink, bed, shelter, love, and new clothes for their growing bodies. But each one left. They each seemed to have a mission they were driven to complete. And every time, news filtered through of their deaths. For all of them, she felt her soul die a little more, and her ability to sleep diminished. She became cold, distant, and angry with the world and the monsters in it. Never again did she think she would find joy or happiness.

Even after moving to the surface, her sleep patterns hadn't improved. There was concerns at work, about human and monster relations, Asgore wanting her forgiveness, Frisk wanting her to forgive Asgore, and the wellbeing of Frisk. There was so much going on in her life, so much to think and worry about. There was hardly any time for sleep, and some nights she half spent sitting up, making lists of all she needed to do for handling upcoming events.

As if she didn’t already have enough to worry about, her mind would wander to the health of her one dear friend. The one monster who showed her how to laugh again while they were still underground. He had brightened up her life, day after day, visiting her door, telling her jokes and stories about life outside and his brother. And the day they finally met, and learned each other's names, was one of the greatest in her life.

It didn’t take her long to figure out that Sans didn't share her problem. He slept very easily, passing out at any moment. A few times he apologized for leaning on her in his sleep, but she didn't mind. In fact, she really enjoyed the feel of his weight on her side, the subtle movement of his ribs as he breathed, and the soft hum of his magic and soul.

If anything, it made her feel drowsy, which was something she hadn't felt in ages. Remembering this, a few times at night, she would imagine hugging him. Feeling him there, in her mind, and letting his deep voice chase the ill thoughts away. It seemed childish, and it was something she wouldn’t want to tell him; but, it helped.

This night it was not working. No matter how hard she tried, sleep would not come. She wanted to talk with him, and was considering calling him. But she knew that is silly, he would be in bed, asleep like she should be. Still, her insomnia was getting to her and she had to do something. Grabbing her phone and a stylus, she found her text conversation with Sans and send a quick message.

 *We should meet tomorrow (or today, considering the time), I found a pretty puzzle we can put together. That is, of course, if you're not too busy with work. Hope I don't wake you, sleepy bones, and for a piece of your time tomorrow.

 With it sent, she started reviewing their old back and forth joke telling. What she wasn't expecting was how quickly she received a reply.

 *hey t, you're up late. sure, i can see you after work. noon good?

 *So are you, I thought you’d be asleep. And yes, noon is perfect.

 *k see you then.

 She stared at her phone for a moment. It would be easy to dismiss it as him waking up to her text and being tired. Or that he was just up late with his brother for some reason. But it still bothered her that he didn’t reply with a single pun or joke. He didn’t even acknowledge the one she made. Frowning she decided to not let this slide.

 *Alright, but Sans, what are you doing up?

 There was a long pause, as the dots indicating he was responding appeared and disappeared multiple times. Finally, the reply came.

 *what abt you?

 That skeleton!

Toriel huffed and glared at her phone. How dare he flip her concern for him back on herself. He was deflecting, and unlike usual, not with a joke. Quickly, she wrote a new message.

 *I am fine. You, though, fall asleep at the slightest lull in activity. I don't want you passing out more than normal, or sleeping at your job.

 *i won't, t.

 Toriel sighed. How would he know? He’ll most likely be so tired when he gets here, the moment she set the puzzle out he’d fall asleep. As she sat there fuming, he sent another message.

 *sorry

 Toriel looked at that word, confused; but more than that, she felt concerned. As far as she knew, there was nothing for him to be sorry about. Considering the times she has caught him looking, sounding, and acting melancholy, she couldn’t help but worry.

 *For what, my friend?

 *everything

 *I’m not sure I understand what you mean.

 *never mind, i should sleep, good night.

 *Sans, are you alright?

 He took a moment to reply.

 *nyes

 He then quickly corrected.

 *yes

 *I’m calling.

 The dots of him replying quickly popped up, but she didn't wait to see. She flipped over to her contact list, selected his name and called. He let it ring a while before answering.

“hey, t.”

“What did you mean by ‘everything?’” Toriel asked.

“it's nothing, don't worry about it,” there was such a heaviness in his tone.

“I don't believe you, what's wrong?” She persisted, saddened to hear him like that.

“i,” he started, but stopped, so she waited. Experience has taught her that it sometimes takes him a moment to collect his thoughts, especially when he was going to talk about something he normally wouldn’t. From the other end, she heard a shuddering sigh before he continued, “i’m prone to nightmares. and i was awake when you texted because of a pretty bad one. just left me rattled, heh.”

It is rare for him to open like that, and she knew better than to point out that he sounded distressed. “I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“thanks tori, but it's fine, really. you should sleep, and i should get back to sleep.”

She sat there for a moment, knowing this skeleton all too well to just accept that answer, “If I were to hang up, would you go to sleep again?”

His silence answered that. He had nothing to say, because he knew she wouldn’t like the answer. Though, if he was prone to nightmares, like he said, perhaps that is why he is always falling asleep during the day. The sleep needed isn’t being achieved at night.

“If I say I will try going to sleep, could you try as well?” Toriel asked.

“sure, tori,” he said. There was some humor there, but still, the heaviness was present. They then wished each other goodnight, and hung up.

Toriel did get some sleep, but it wasn’t much. The next morning, she got up, made breakfast, and then walked Frisk to their friend’s house to play. It was nice when Frisk could have days like this, to just be a child. If it were possible, she would go back in time and stop Asgore from putting so much responsibility on the poor child’s shoulders. She was unsure how he could not see that Frisk was too young for a job like that.

As she walked home, she thought back to the shared issue with sleep. That is when she got a brilliant idea, but she would need a little help to do it right. Pulling out her cell phone, she knew just who to call.

  After hanging up with Toriel, Sans did go back to sleep, only to wake up again. He had another two hours before his alarm would go off and he doubted he would sleep yet again.

…

His alarm woke him, so he must have drifted off at some point. Unwilling to get up, he rolled to his back and stared at the ceiling, debating calling in sick. But, if he did, he’d feel guilty that he skipped work and then hung out with Tori. Pap needs the money for school, food, and housing costs.

In the underground, Sans had multiple jobs to pay for the house. So far, he managed to find just one-person willing to hire his boney butt on the surface, and they only took him on part time. Right now, the brothers were getting by on savings and what little Sans can earn. As for Papyrus, Sans would rather work himself to the bone and let his bro focus on his studies, and not worry about a job or money.

Closing his eye sockets and rubbing his face, he really didn’t want to get up. His second alarm went off and he finally rose from his bed and grabbed his uniform. He then set on his bed and stared at, with the enthusiasm of any resident of Snowdin who had the ‘pleasure’ to spend the day with Jerry.

At his third alarm, Sans finally got dressed, and exited his room before the fourth - ‘hurry up and get ready now’ - alarm went off. He grabbed a breakfast bar, his jacket, and left.

Sans’ job was simple. Either he was taking orders, handling money, and passing off the food; or he quickly prepared food for waiting customers. This early in the day, what was cooked mostly consisted of eggs and bacon. It was a small, non-chain, food joint, that Papyrus wouldn’t want to work or eat at. Not that different than his hotdog stand in Hotlands or even Grillby’s, really.

When his shift ended, he made his way to Tori’s, feeling more defeated than he did when he started the day. Dealing with some of the customers dampened his mood, immensely. And there were so many disgruntled humans there today, that his coworkers agreed he should stay in back for food prep, leaving the customers to them.

Once at Toriel’s house, he walked up to the door and sighed, glancing down at his clothes. He could smell work on himself. He should have swung by home first, even if it made him late. But he said noon. What he really should do is just tell her he's feeling sick and go home. Unsure if he should talk or text, he stared at the door.

Well, he was here, might as well talk.

He knocked twice on the door and hear a voice from inside call, “Who’s there?”

“no bell”

“No bell who?”

“did i win the nobel prize?”

Toriel laughed as she opened the door to let him in. Hearing her voice was all he needed to have his day brightened, and his final decision was to stay. When he walked in he was about to go to the table, where he was sure the jigsaw puzzle would be waiting, but what he saw in the family room caught his attention. Blankets were propped up on chairs and the sofa to form a tent like structure. It was rather big, bigger than any blanket fort he or Papyrus ever made.

“frisk make that?” Sans asked, admiring the effort.

“Actually, I did. I don't know about you, but I’m still tired from last night,” Toriel stepped closer and placed one of her large paws on his shoulder. It was warm with her magic naturally flowing through it, like the life blood of humans. He wanted to look up at her as she spoke, but his eyes were transfixed on the soft, shimmering fur, and the elegant opalescent claws at the end of each finger.

“uh, yeah, same,” was his less than dignified response.

“So, I thought we would relax, maybe watch a movie and rest or nap instead. After all, I tried reading this morning but my tired eyes kept blurring the words,” Toriel continued. Sans glanced up at her face, seeing that beautiful smile of hers aimed at him.

To this change of events, he wasn't sure what to say. “ok,” was the best he could muster. He then remembered he was in his work clothes, “i could head home and change, it won't take long, I know a shortcut.”

“No need, my dearest friend,” she said as her hand left his shoulder. Curious he trailed after her when Toriel moved further into the house. “For you see,” she said before picking up a duffel bag, “someone told me long ago about a wonderful and sweet monster. And he was more than willing to gather some things for you.”

Sans stared at the bag being offered to him. It was his old bag, teal blue with grey accents, that he used when he was attending college underground. He would pack it and take it with him when he would to be away a few days. He took and opened it to find a set of pajamas and some wash clothes just under a well-used book.

“Oh? What’s that?” Toriel asked.

“a bedtime classic at our house. so, if this is what we’re going to do, let’s get ready, settle back, and join fluffy bunny in his adventures,” Sans looked up at Toriel. She was an amazing friend, and Papyrus, obviously, the coolest bro.

Papyrus must have bought the pajamas after Toriel called him, as Sans hadn’t owned a pair since reaching adulthood. That, and the obvious hint was the tag still being on them. Sans had gone in the bathroom to clean up, which didn’t take long. When he walked out, he joined Toriel in the blanket and pillow fort. The two cuddled next to each other while he read. Just like at home with Papyrus, Toriel was asleep soon after the story finished. As Sans laid there, next to the most beautiful woman he could ever hope to be near, he wished that this moment would last the rest of his life. They had been friends for so long, hanging out together as often as possible. They had been getting closer, but they have only really ‘hung out.’ They were impromptu dates, but it would be nice to make it more official. Perhaps, if he still has the nerves to, when he wakes he’ll ask her out on a proper date.

[rolandfontana]

Why Tackling Urban Violence Should Be First on America’s Domestic Agenda

“Agree or disagree with him, but by all means read him.”

That’s The New Yorker writer Jelani Cobb’s take on Thomas Abt, whose just-published book, “Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence—And a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets, offers a blueprint to cut homicides in half in the United States in just eight years.

Abt, a senior research fellow with the Center for International Development, a former Deputy Secretary for Public Safety to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and a former Obama-era Department of Justice administrator and Manhattan prosecutor, flips liberal conventional wisdom about the relationship between violence and entrenched poverty on its head.

He argues that urban violence is often a driver, rather than an outgrowth, of structural disadvantage. He does this while shutting down racist cultural finger-pointing from the right.

Whereas strong emotion has tended to dominate the public dialogue on criminal justice, Abt’s book leans into impact evaluations, interviews, and systematic reviews to build a framework for violence reduction that is at once non-ideological and internally coherent.

Given the swirling debates among politicians, criminal justice practitioners, advocates, and the public about the appropriate role and size of the justice system, Abt’s work is a thoughtful, research-driven examination of some of the thorniest, most painful issues in American public and private life.

The Crime Report sat down with him at the National Network for Safe Communities 5th biennial conference on violence prevention at John Jay College last week to discuss the substance of his book and its place in the broader national criminal justice reform movement.

Below is the transcript of the conversation, which has been edited for clarity and lightly abridged.

The Crime Report: America’s urban landscape is seeing transformational, generationally significant changes. Yet many have come to view urban violence as intractable. In your book, you identify violence as the urban problem with the most urgency, placing it ahead of other problems such as housing unaffordability and homelessness or educational equity. Why is urban violence the most urgent of these issues?

Thomas Abt: That is a very important question, and it’s important to get right. I’m not arguing that affordable housing, quality education, or any other structural challenge facing America’s poorest communities is less important than urban violence. I’m just making an argument about the order in which you might address them. I’m not arguing that urban violence is the only way to address issues of economic and social equity. I’m not even arguing that it’s the most important way.

Thomas Abt

I’m simply arguing that, as a matter of sequence, if you tackle urban violence first, or at least alongside these other issues, it will make all those struggles easier, and it will make those other important equity outcomes more achievable.

I’m committed to pursuing economic and social justice. I wouldn’t be happy with an America that is poor and unequal but safe. That said, in terms of how we get there, I don’t think we’re fully accounting for the salience and urgency of urban violence.

TCR: You also state that by addressing the problem of urban violence, you are also unlocking the ability to address these other problems. Say, when you address urban violence specifically, you then pave the way for economic mobility. Do you think that’s a fair assessment?

Abt: Yes. When you look at concentrated poverty, i.e. the intersection of poor-quality education and housing, environmental health hazards, food deserts, and so on, one of the key forces holding these things together and [that] keeps them in place are high levels of serious and potentially lethal violence. If concentrated poverty is a knot and all these different problems are threads, then urban violence is the hand that pulls the strings tighter, making them harder to tease out.

Public safety can and should do some of the essential blocking and tackling for other revitalization efforts in order to make them more successful.

When I was in the Obama administration, I was one of the founding members of the Neighborhood Revitalization Working Group, a multi-agency group working on ways to transform the nation’s most distressed communities. As the Department of Justice representative, I would argue that public safety can and should do some of the essential blocking and tackling for other revitalization efforts in order to make them more successful.

It’s important to understand that all these outcomes are linked and that public safety should not be placed in competition with these other outcomes. Having a more peaceful community is going to make our other goals easier to accomplish.

TCR: When looking to address urban violence, we must first define what we count as violence. You’re not including structural violence, such as the collateral or direct harm caused by economic systems or institutions, but that aren’t they the same as the tip of a blade or the barrel of a gun? You’re not denying that these harms exist, but that we should tailor our approach to this one, somewhat narrow, definition of violence. Is that right?

Abt: Yes. I didn’t set out to write a book about American social and economic justice and then conclude that the only thing we needed to do was reduce homicides. I intended to write a book about reducing homicide and learned along the way that preventing murders has many other important benefits. Reducing homicide is one of the most important, direct, and obvious ways to help our poorest and least powerful fellow citizens. I’m not making an argument against broader political, economic and social movements. I’m just saying they’re not substitutes for targeted anti-violence policies.

In terms of definitions, the book focuses on physical violence, and then I narrow that definition further because I’m not focusing on family violence or violence committed by organized crime. It’s only one book, so you have to be selective and write what you know.

 ‘Hot Spots’

 TCR: You point to ample research suggesting that violence is clustered around “sticky” people, places, and things. You argue that we should focus not on those things specifically, but on the violent behaviors that flow from them. Can you elaborate?

Abt: I use the framing of people, places, and things because it is easy for people to quickly understand. That said, in terms of policy, when talking about people, I am referring to social networks of the highest-risk potential perpetrators and victims. By places, I am referring to micro-concentrations of crime known as hot spots. And by things, I am referring to certain behaviors that are closely associated with violence.

For example, to reduce urban violence, you don’t need to focus on all guns, although that can be helpful in preventing other forms of gun violence. You should focus on illegal gun-carrying by hot people in hot spots. Similarly, with gangs, you don’t need to focus on gangs generally; you should focus on group conflicts among hot people in hot spots.

TCR: And more particularly, the most violent individuals of those gangs, rather than, say, loosely affiliated people who might know them.

Abt: Exactly. When you scratch the surface of actual gangs and speak to actual gang members, the diversity within gangs is vast. Even in a very dangerous gang, the idea that everyone is uniformly culpable and violent is just not the case, which means that these ‘Make America Scared Again’ anti-gang policies are not productive in terms of reducing violence. I’d actually prefer that we use the term “network” instead of “gang,” because that’s closer to what these problems look like in reality.

TCR: The focus on people, places, and things is one pillar, or fundamental, that you identify for violence reduction. But applied in isolation, you could get a situation like the Bronx 120 that many people have been talking about in New York, where the NYPD did a series of sweeping raids—the largest mass arrests in New York City history. The result was that many people were swept up based on their social connections. It was sloppy and not procedural, lacking balance or fairness—those are the next two pillars that you identify. How do they couple with the idea of focusing on people, places, and things?

Abt: I’m not all that familiar with that specific effort, so let’s take a different example in New York, which is stop-and-frisk. What you saw there was a massive hot-spot policing effort that went too far. Police were focused geographically on where crime and violence concentrated, but it still wasn’t focused enough. They should also have been focused in terms of people, not just places.

You can’t go to an area with a lot of shootings and killings and stop every young man in that neighborhood, which is roughly what happened.

*Given that crime is so hyper-concentrated, stigmatizing entire groups of people or neighborhoods as uniformly violent is not only morally wrong, it’s factually inaccurate. Even in the most dangerous neighborhoods, most of the people there are not dangerous, and there are many parts of that neighborhood that are not dangerous.

Police should be more proactive in crime hot spots, but they need to still know the community and be looking out for specific people and behaviors. If hot spot policing is practiced with zero-tolerance, it’s not just unfocused, it’s unfair.

TCR: You use a carrot-and-stick analogy as a symbol or metaphor for balance in addressing people who might be more prone to acts of violence. Say more about that.

Abt: Yes. I’m not advocating for one silver-bullet strategy. I’m arguing for a small portfolio of strategies that, together, follow these three fundamental principles: focus, balance, and fairness. Within a portfolio, you need mechanisms to deter people from violent behavior, but also to support them and help them improve their lives. If you look at the most rigorous evidence and also talk to people in the community—because this book is about where science and the community come together—they say the same thing. We see anti-crime strategies that use aggressive enforcement that work. We also see anti-crime strategies deliver support, treatment, and assistance that work. And we see that no city has ever been successful just doing one or the other. You need a balance between the two.

This is one of the things that makes focused deterrence, or the Group Violence Reduction Strategy, successful. It gives people autonomy, telling them, “Look, we’re here to help you. If you won’t stop shooting, then we’re here to stop you. You choose.” It’s seen as fair because it’s not just the police and it explains consequences ahead of time. “We, the community—police, community, service providers—are telling you that violence is unacceptable. Here is your choice. You make the choice, and we will follow up.”

TCR: Your book sits at the intersection of many debates of the national criminal justice movement. There are advocates and activists, who tend to be more progressive, calling for sweeping abolition—whether of the prison system, or police, or I.C.E. in the immigration system. There are also those who do see a place for incremental change, but they want to bring that change from the community itself, cutting out criminal justice administrators.

Despite the deep-rooted cynicism that many harbor toward the criminal justice system because of the racism, classism, or other forms of discrimination embedded in the policy or outcomes, you say that abolition is a form of “extremism [that] hurts, not helps, poor communities of color.” Why do you say that?

Abt: The poorest and most disadvantaged rely heavily on the services that law enforcement provides. They need those services, but they also need them to be improved and more closely connected to their interests.

The most extreme advocates in this area do not acknowledge that people who live in areas plagued by high rates of violence are simultaneously overburdened and under-protected by law enforcement. In these communities, the state is both too aggressive and too unresponsive. Taking the police away only addresses half the equation.

There’s simply no evidence for the idea that you can promote safety by pulling the police out of distressed communities.

Also, there’s simply no evidence for the idea that you can promote safety by pulling the police out of distressed communities. Bleeding Out is a book based on evidence of “what works” – hundreds of rigorous impact evaluations. When lives are on the line, I don’t believe in speculating. I am not going to embrace such a radical policy without first seeing some strong evidence.

Now, if abolitionists are simply using the term as a rhetorical technique to say, “We need radical change,” that might not be the language I would use, but we can certainly have the conversation. But if you are literally an abolitionist, and you are literally saying, “no police, no prisons,” then I simply don’t agree and that’s fine.

Race, Violence and Justice

TCR: How does systemic and historical racism factor into the framing of your work?

Abt: The issue of race is everywhere in this work. You have to acknowledge that, but some of the rhetoric around race is so inflammatory that I worry it will delay or prevent the reconciliation that needs to happen between impacted communities and the criminal justice system. I worry that when we demonize immigrants, Muslims, poor people of color, talking about “American carnage,” that we are preventing reconciliation.

I also worry when we call all cops and prosecutors racists, or say that this system is so infected with racial bias that it has to be discarded entirely, that those statements will also prevent reconciliation. To reform the system, I don’t believe you can reject it entirely.

I also wish progressives would recognize that these differences are really arguments about strategy. We all want the same things, but we may disagree about how to get there. I wish we were a bit more careful about questioning each other’s motives and creating litmus tests. In future conversations, I hope we can limit the scope of our disagreements.

TCR: You argue that to reduce violence we should avoid leaning on ideological or partisan tropes. When people do that, they selectively listen to community concerns, and then only take the points that suit their political agenda. It seems that you are trying to forge a non-aligned position. You explain that propelling change in the field of violence reduction will require a small but powerful and committed new constituency. What do you mean?

Abt: It’s common in books like these to identify a problem and then say that the way to solve it is to go big. ‘Give me all your attention, support, and resources, and I will solve this problem for you.” That’s not a realistic request to make of policymakers, or the public for that matter. Do I believe there should be a new narrative on urban violence in the United States? Absolutely, but I’m not waiting on that to happen before getting to work. In any city, the constituency needed to make these changes is not that big, as long as people stay disciplined and committed.

Look what’s happened in Oakland. That city reduced their homicides by 50 percent over five years. Rigorous research has connected the reduction back to Oakland Ceasefire, which uses the focused deterrence or GRVS strategy. Who brought that strategy to Oakland and demanded that it be done right? Community members. Michael and Ben McBride of Faith in Action and others pushed for this and insisted on it until finally the city agreed.

That’s the model that we need to look at. They didn’t wait until everybody in Oakland agreed; they got a few people with a very clear vision together and pushed. Oakland was a dangerous, violent city with lots of tension between politicians, police, and communities. It was not the easiest place to do this work, in other words. If it can happen in Oakland, it can happen in other places.

TCR: When cities conceive their programs, they have a wide toolbox to choose from. Returning to our earlier discussion about those are at the highest risk to perpetrate violence, you argue that there are some people we should “put away” through the prison system. There are others, particularly among progressives, pushing for an alternative model to incarceration emphasizing restorative justice over incarceration.

You did not mention restorative justice in the scope of your book. Should it be incorporated into this conversation?

Abt: Restorative justice is an important piece of the overall criminal justice reform puzzle, but it’s not a viable alternative to prison when it comes to murder. I’m also skeptical that it can be applied to the other serious violent offenses—attempted murder, firearm assault, etc. – that the book focuses on. It’s an important strategy, but to my knowledge nobody is suggesting that when one person kills or seriously hurts another that the remedy should be conversation rather than incarceration.

In many of the most violent communities, we are also dealing with a crisis relating to extremely low homicide clearance rates.

You need different tools for different problems. In many of the most violent communities, we are also dealing with a crisis relating to extremely low homicide clearance rates. In these communities, victims deserve justice just like they do anywhere else. And remember that for crimes like these, if the state doesn’t punish the perpetrator, someone else will. Solving more murders can also prevent retaliatory violence from people close to the victim.

TCR: The subtitle of your book describes it as “a bold new plan for peace in the streets.” Much of the research you cite has been around for decades. Can you explain the novelty of your plan?

Abt: The plan is new and the evidence is certainly up to date. That said, a book based on rigorous evidence is, by definition, going to rely on strategies that have studied carefully, so it’s really the way the evidence is compiled and presented that is new. Nobody else has, to my knowledge, made such a comprehensive effort to gather all the evidence and then boiled it down to three fundamental anti-violence principles: focus, balance, and fairness.

Roman Gressier

Similarly, no one I know of has examined this massively complicated social phenomenon and broken it into three simple pieces: people, places, and behaviors. Finally, only a few people have told the public that they don’t need to wait for a revolution in society, the economy, or government to save lives in urban America. So that is what’s new, and what’s bold, in my opinion.

Roman Gressier is a TCR contributing writer and news intern. Readers’ comments are welcome.

Why Tackling Urban Violence Should Be First on America’s Domestic Agenda syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/