Expanded crime prevention efforts in South Bronx aimed at reducing recidivism, rearrest rates
New York Mayor Eric Adams has appointed two women to lead in the expansion of crime prevention programs in the city.
“We need to attack this from every level; this is so important as many of these people are coming back to the same conditions that got them in trouble,” Adams stated.
Adams’s three-point prevention plan includes, first, to teach reasons for not needing to use firearms; second, to ensure that prisons have the necessary rehabilitation program services; and third, that newly returning citizens have a good support system, the Bronx Times reported Feb. 28, 2022.
In a press conference at South Bronx Neighborhood Opportunity Network (NeON), Adams announced the reappointment of Ana Bermudez as commissioner of the Department of Probation and Deanna Logan as director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
“Commissioner Bermudez and Deanna Logan are proven reformers who share my vision for the criminal justice system, and I look forward to working with them to ‘Get Stuff Done,’” Adams said.
The mayor also revealed plans to connect every probationer under the age of 21 with a mentor of the Credible Messenger Justice Center, co-founded by the Department of Probation and directed by Bermudez. The mentor program aims to prevent young offenders’ return to incarceration, while at the same time preventing others from making the same mistake, according to the article.
The city will also create a substantial expansion of its NeON Works programming, offering classes, training, and resources to offenders on probation.
“The prerequisite to prosperity is safety and justice — and the two go hand in hand,” said Adams. “If we are going to make our city safer and more just for all New Yorkers, we need to lead with evidence-based policies and upstream solutions.”
The Data Analytic Recidivism Tool reported that 30% of 200,000 persons arrested in New York returned within a year. The National Institute of Justice reported that 44% of released prisoners recidivated during the first year following release. In 2005, out of 405,000 released prisoners, 68% returned to prison for new crimes within three years, and 77% committed new offenses within five years.
The article said recidivism factors include a person’s social environment and community, events in prison, and difficulty adjusting after release.
