After a decade of stunning success reducing violent crime across much of America, there’s a new crime wave shaking the peace of many neighborhoods coast to coast.

While violent crime has been at historic lows in cities like New York, Miami and Los Angeles, it’s rising sharply elsewhere. Homicides jumped almost 50% in Milwaukee last year; 24% in Houston; Philadelphia had its deadliest year since 1997. And in Boston “once a crime-fighting Mecca known for the Boston Miracle, homicides hit a ten-year high.

If the 1990s were about gangs and protecting drug turf, experts say today the violence is often sparked by petty disputes, a dirty look, disrespect and a quickness to pull a gun and shoot.

What happened to the success of the 1990s, and how can the killing be stopped today?

Guests:

Kate Zernike, reporter, New York Times

David Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He has written and consulted extensively on policing and neighborhood revitalization.;
Jeffrey Brown, pastor at the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge. He is co-founder of the Boston Ten-Point Coalition, a group of ministers that works with the police and mobilizes communities around helping black and Latino youth