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Public Safety

Everyone deserves to be safe where they live, regardless of race, wealth, health, ability, or background, and protecting this right is one of the most important responsibilities of government and community leaders. For too long, we have failed to achieve these public safety objectives. Most crimes go unsolved and the vast majority of crime survivors receive little to no assistance in their recovery, while those who are apprehended often cycle in and out of incarceration due to underlying challenges and circumstances that go unaddressed. Meanwhile, the kind of services and support that are very effective at preventing crime have long been underresourced. Decades of harsh and overly punitive policies have turned the United States into the most carceral nation in the world without generating durable safety. Instead, they have wreaked havoc on communities across the country, separating families, extracting wealth from the poorest communities, and creating devastating barriers for people with criminal records that keep second chances out of reach.

To build lasting public safety, we must change our emphasis from one of punishment to one of prevention. We must change the ways we hold people accountable to ensure people cannot harm others with impunity while delivering holistic and restorative outcomes that prevent future offending. Solutions should focus resources on the challenges of serious and violent crime, improving police-community relations, centering the people most harmed by both crime and incarceration, and empowering victims to repair their lives. Simultaneously, we must prioritize robust investment into the infrastructure, services, and built environment of communities that have been simultaneously subject to neglect, disinvestment, and overenforcement. Elected officials and community leaders across the country are incorporating these approaches to create a less harmful and more just path to public safety.

Related Teams
Public Safety
Gun Violence Prevention

The Public Safety team focuses on developing policies to shrink the justice system’s footprint, improve public health and safety, prevent gun violence, and promote equity and accountability.

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Reining in DHS and Restoring Accountability Past Event

Reining in DHS and Restoring Accountability

Join a virtual discussion with the authors of five commonsense reforms to rein in DHS.

The Trump Administration’s ICE and CBP Have Become a Threat to Americans: Congress Must Ensure That DHS Follows the Law and Adopts Commonsense Reforms Article
ICE agents detain woman on ground

The Trump Administration’s ICE and CBP Have Become a Threat to Americans: Congress Must Ensure That DHS Follows the Law and Adopts Commonsense Reforms

The Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security is out of control, endangering the well-being and lives of Americans. DHS must follow the law and fulfill its role to enhance—not compromise—the security of Americans and the homeland.

Dan Herman, Allie Preston, Gréta Bedekovics, 5 More Ben Olinsky, Ben Greenho, Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer, Silva Mathema, Debu Gandhi

Community Violence Intervention: Maiya Shackelford Shares Heartfelt Story of 1 Gunshot Survivor’s Journey to Thriving Video

Community Violence Intervention: Maiya Shackelford Shares Heartfelt Story of 1 Gunshot Survivor’s Journey to Thriving

Maiya Shackelford shares how coaches at the community violence intervention program READI Chicago support program participants to rebuild and have autonomy over their lives.

Chandler Hall, Nick Wilson, Olivia Mowry, 1 More Hai-Lam Phan

‘Pieces of the Puzzle’: A Reel Progress Film Screening Past Event

‘Pieces of the Puzzle’: A Reel Progress Film Screening

Join the Center for American Progress for a Reel Progress screening of "Pieces of the Puzzle."

Center for American Progress (in-person only) 1333 H St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20005

11th National Gun Violence Prevention Summit (Registered Attendees) Past Event

11th National Gun Violence Prevention Summit (Registered Attendees)

Join CAP for a summit featuring speeches and discussions by leading advocates of the gun violence prevention movement.

Center for American Progress (1333 H St. NW Washington DC 20005) & Online

Fact Sheet: Expanding the Public Safety Workforce Fact Sheet
Social workers provide a man experiencing homelessness with resources in a local park in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Fact Sheet: Expanding the Public Safety Workforce

Cities across the country are investing in safety by incorporating specially trained professionals such as community responders and community violence intervention professionals into their local public safety workforces.

Allie Preston, Rachael Eisenberg, Kirby Gaherty

Expanding the Public Safety Workforce Report
Three people speaking, with two standing outside van and one sitting inside.

Expanding the Public Safety Workforce

Cities across the country are exploring innovative ways to incorporate new professionals, such as community responders and community violence intervention professionals, into their existing public safety workforces to improve outcomes for communities.

Allie Preston, Rachael Eisenberg, Kirby Gaherty

The Highest Rates of Gun Homicides Are in Rural Counties Fact Sheet
An AR-15 semi-automatic rifle is held in front of a U.S. flag.

The Highest Rates of Gun Homicides Are in Rural Counties

Despite media attention on gun violence in large American cities, new analysis of CDC data shows that rural counties persistently have some of the highest rates of gun violence in the country.

Chandler Hall

Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act Creates an Unaccountable Slush Fund for the Trump Administration’s Deportation Force Report
ICE officers patrol the halls of an immigration court building.

Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act Creates an Unaccountable Slush Fund for the Trump Administration’s Deportation Force

The OBBBA pumps $75 billion into ICE with no guardrails, supercharging the Trump administration’s massive, indiscriminate deportation agenda that is operating without accountability and threatening local communities and economies.

Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer, Ben Greenho, Silva Mathema

Hope After Harm: Reimagining Victim Compensation Past Event

Hope After Harm: Reimagining Victim Compensation

Join the Center for American Progress for an event discussing CAP and Common Justice’s partnered launch of the “State Victim Compensation Statute Rubric.”

Center for American Progress Online

Point: America’s Law-and-Order Problem Is Donald Trump In the News

Point: America’s Law-and-Order Problem Is Donald Trump

In an op-ed published by Inside Sources, Damian Murphy argues that President Donald Trump's deployment of federal forces against protestors mirrors the actions of authoritarian regimes around the world.

Inside Sources

Damian Murphy

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