New UVA research recommends gun violence prevention strategies for state, local governments
The qualitative research entails interviews with violence-impacted communities around Virginia and insights from intervention groups and law enforcement
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New qualitative research from University of Virginia professors and law students explores contributing factors to youth gun violence in Virginia as well as solutions at the state and local levels.
“We shouldn’t be scared to walk around our own city without a gun,” said a 25-year-old Charlottesville resident interviewed as part of the research, which was released Thursday.
That person was one of nearly 60 minors and adults from around the state researchers interviewed to glean insights about what inspires people to carry guns and what might make their communities feel safer instead.
The study builds on other research, like a 2024 study that revealed how teens exposed to neighborhood gun violence were more likely to begin carrying their own guns. For the UVA research, authors explored different hotspots around the state where homicide rates were higher.
Lynchburg-area resident James Watkins, a longtime violence reduction and youth outreach strategist, conducted interviews with youth for part of the qualitative research and is one of the authors.
At times in his own childhood, Watkins lived in high-violence areas before he found a sense of community and earned a scholarship to Virginia Military Institute where he eventually earned a psychology degree. His mentorship background and own lived experience, he believes, helped make the interviewees, whose identities the report kept anonymous, more comfortable.
After the young people opened up and shared their experiences with him, Watkins said his takeaway is that adults should listen to minor’s perspectives when it comes to gun violence – from causes to engagement to reasons someone might have a gun in the first place.
“If you don’t feel comfortable going to law enforcement or an adult (to resolve an issue), a kid is going to pick up a gun, because they’re accessible,” Watkins said. “They’re going to pick up a gun to protect themselves.”
Study shows what works, suggests further steps
The research points to several recommendations for actions that state and local governments can take to help drive down violence.
As interviewees shared their insights living in areas where violence has been prevalent, they also shared how they think police could more meaningfully listen and engage with communities. A Hampton-area resident suggested officers seek local residents’ feedback for solutions in hotspot areas to help inform certain actions.
Aside from law enforcement, the report also noted instances where civilians are stepping in to prevent conflicts from escalating to a need to call cops in the first place.
The study’s authors also suggest local governments set memorandums of understanding with “organizations that employ people with lived experience.”
One such organization is the Central Virginia Violence Interrupters, a nonprofit based in Charlottesville. The group, established by people with past criminal histories, seeks to help reduce violence and prevent crime through conflict mitigation and deescalation tactics.
The idea is that people with the lived experience of doing time for crimes are well-suited to intervene to assist people on the verge of it. The once-volunteer cohort has been supported in recent years to treat their work as a part time job as they devote hours of time putting themselves in risky situations to benefit the overall community.
City Council has appropriated funding to the organization in recent years and it had obtained federal grants, but the numbers have dropped this year as President Donald Trump’s administration cancelled grants or awarded them in other areas of the country. Additionally, Charlottesville has budgeted less for the group. The researchers suggest localities should continue to support groups like the Violence Interrupters.
“When we traditionally talk about safety, we’re thinking about potential victims. But we want potential offenders to feel safe too. That will make it less likely that they act in ways we all regret and they will regret,” said Andrew Block, one of the report’s authors and director of UVa’s State and Local Government Law Clinic.
The research also points to successful state and local actions that can be continued. For instance, Hampton, Newport News and Norfolk have established interagency steering committees that share data on which areas of their towns are gun violence hot spots where intervention and public safety resources can be prioritized.
As assistance to the research, an organization called Virginia First Cities Coalition hosted a virtual and in-person conference this past September with law enforcement leaders and violence interruption groups to share insights.
“Everybody has to play a role,” said Kelly Harris-Braxton, director of Virginia First Cities. “We’re all in this together.”
Law enforcement leaders discussed how they’d started devoting “the same level of investigatory resources to non-fatal shootings as they did homicides.” The approach led to quicker arrests and prevented retaliatory violence, the report stated, and was another recommendation for law enforcement around Virginia to implement.
Harris-Braxton called it “refreshing” to see how energized the police chiefs in attendance at the conference were about reducing violence.
Likewise, outgoing Attorney General Jason Miyares’ Ceasefire Virginia program was noted as a success. The program, which invests in gang prevention and targets repeat offenders, has also distributed grant funding to violence intervention and youth mentoring groups around the state.
When celebrating the program’s work last year with Virginia Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, Miyares said “you can’t just prosecute your way out” of violent crime.
Continued funding for violence intervention programs and groups is a paramount recommendation from the UVA study for state government. The authors also suggest expanding the funding where possible and ensuring the funding is flexible as localities tap into grants.
Authors also noted that Newport News-based Democratic Del. Cia Price’s effort to create the Virginia Center for Firearm Intervention and Prevention has previously passed the legislature but was blocked by Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s veto pen. With Democratic Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger set to take the helm of the state next year, she could potentially sign it into law.
The state’s gun storage safety laws could be bolstered, researchers said, some of which have been successful over the years, and others which have been vetoed.
At local levels, the authors noted some holistic approaches that may help reduce gun violence in hotspot areas, such as investing in community centers and enabling school districts to address absenteeism.
Both Harris-Braxton and Watkins emphasized that school or afterschool programs are places minors can find mentorship and friendship.
“Some kids don’t have a stable family,” Watkins said. “There’s a void so they go searching for gangs for belonging but then they get sucked into the lifestyle.”
When speaking about the idea of community centers in an interview for the study, a Richmond-based young adult said that youth “are looking at their environment” and if violence and crime is what they see, they’re more likely to engage in it. A third space to connect with others and supportive environments can be nurturing, they said.
“You don’t have to keep getting into this cycle of getting into these crimes, ending up in the jail cells, then not being able to find a job and then again, back to crime and falling into jail,” they said.
By exploring ways to prevent gun violence in the first place and how to address it when it arises, Block explained that state and local actions can achieve synergy and progress.
“If we think about this mass problem of youth gun violence on a more local level and almost micro level, it becomes a much more solvable problem,” Block said.
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