How to turn back the tide of violent crime

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Oct. 4, 9-year-old Dumarcus Fuller Jr. was killed in his Oklahoma City home in a drive-by shooting. It was just over a month after a similar drive-by shooting had killed 5-year-old Rayshard Scott in Fort Worth, Texas. These are just a few of the names of the young children who find themselves at the forefront of the increase in homicides and violence in cities over the last seven years. It has resulted in thousands more lives lost than if rates had stayed at their 2014 low.

While many things contribute to crime rates, former Attorney General William Barr was right when he wrote in the Wall Street Journal that increases in violence are a policy choice. And the people bearing the brunt of those policy choices come from our most vulnerable communities where violent crime not only cuts lives short but significantly reduces economic mobility . This means our poorest residents remain trapped in communities plagued by violence, unable to escape the cycle of poverty.