Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence

“Uneasy Peace” is a book about the rise and fall and rise again of crime in urban America, and what is needed now for public safety and social justice.

The “big ideas” for Urban Atlanta:

• We must do all that is just and sustainable to reduce violent crime because those who benefit most from safer neighborhoods are the least fortunate in our cities.
• Neighborhoods should be partners in the effort to reduce crime. A promising way is with a version of New York’s “NeighborhoodStat” program that identifies public safety problems at the neighborhood level and engages neighborhood leaders in reducing them.
• We must create alternative public safety services so we do not depend on the police alone to make cities safer. 
• We must invest in programs that have a record of reducing violence, from community centers to after-school programs. 
• We need local leaders to speak calmly and clearly about the value of public safety, everyone’s role in maintaining it, the paths to public safety that are effective and just, and the benefits for police officers in having others involved in making communities safer.