Fixing the Bridge: Treating the Root Causes of Crime | Ben David | TEDxAirlie

Summary

The speaker highlights the link between social determinants of health and the root causes of crime, advocating for preventive measures over punitive actions. Using stories about drowning victims and a starfish, the speaker emphasizes the importance of community involvement, addressing trauma, and providing support through schools, nonprofits, and business opportunities. He calls for universal assessments for children, reinvestment in treatment for adults, and collective action to build a healthier, safer society. The message encourages unity, compassion, and proactive efforts to address systemic challenges and uplift those in need.

Takeaways

• 🚑 Prevention is better than cure: Addressing social determinants of health can prevent crime, similar to how treating health issues improves overall well-being.
• 🌊 Water metaphor: The story of a drowning man and a bridge with a hole illustrates the importance of addressing root causes rather than just responding to symptoms.
• ⚖️ Criminal justice insights: The speaker has witnessed firsthand the challenges within the criminal justice system, emphasizing that the problems are bigger than the system can solve alone.
• 🔍 Crime reduction success: Over the last 20 years, violent crime has decreased by 65% in the region, showcasing the impact of focused efforts.
• 💉 Opioid epidemic crisis: The region is grappling with severe challenges from the opioid epidemic, including a rise in overdose deaths and babies born addicted.
• 👶 ACE scores: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scores have a significant impact on future outcomes, including crime involvement and health, stressing the need for early intervention.
• 🎓 Education focus: Keeping children in school and supporting their success is essential to preventing future crime, as high school dropouts are disproportionately represented in prison populations.
• 🏢 Community collaboration: Nonprofits, government, businesses, and faith-based groups are key in reducing crime and improving social outcomes through collaboration and intervention.
• 💼 Employment as a solution: Programs like 'Hometown Hires' aim to reintegrate justice-involved individuals into the workforce, emphasizing the role of jobs in preventing recidivism.
• 💪 Resilience and recovery: Children are resilient and can overcome challenges if given the right support, underscoring the importance of holistic community efforts to address health and social issues.

Q & A

What is the main message conveyed by the speaker in the script?

The speaker emphasizes the need for a proactive approach to crime prevention by addressing social determinants of health and the root causes of crime. He advocates for a community-based response to build healthier, safer environments, rather than relying solely on incarceration.

How does the speaker connect the concept of public health to crime prevention?

The speaker highlights that the social determinants of health, such as poverty and lack of access to resources, are closely linked to the root causes of crime. By treating these issues, society can prevent crime and improve overall safety.

What is the significance of the Cape Fear River story shared by the speaker?

The Cape Fear River story illustrates the idea of addressing the root cause of a problem rather than continuously responding to its symptoms. By fixing the hole in the bridge upstream, fewer people fell into the river, symbolizing how addressing systemic issues can prevent larger problems from occurring.

What statistics does the speaker share regarding crime reduction in the region?

The speaker mentions that violent crime in the region has been reduced by 65% over the past 20 years, reaching the lowest levels in recorded history according to local law enforcement.

How does the speaker describe the opioid epidemic and its impact on the community?

The speaker describes the opioid epidemic as a public safety issue requiring a public health solution. He shares alarming statistics, such as the increase in opioid-related overdoses and babies born addicted, highlighting the urgent need for effective treatment and prevention.

What approach did the speaker’s district take with crime mapping and the Youth Enrichment Zone?

The district used crime mapping to identify high-crime areas and created the Youth Enrichment Zone, modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone, to provide targeted support for children living in poverty. This approach aimed to address underlying issues such as gang involvement and lack of structure at home.

What is the speaker's stance on incarceration as a solution to crime?

The speaker criticizes the overreliance on incarceration, noting that 98% of prisoners are eventually released, with a 66% recidivism rate within three years. He argues that prisons are not the solution for mentally ill or drug-addicted individuals and calls for community-based solutions instead.

What does the starfish story symbolize in the speaker's message?

The starfish story symbolizes the idea that small, individual actions can make a significant difference, even if they don't solve the entire problem. The speaker uses this analogy to encourage everyone to take part in helping those who are 'falling through the cracks.'

What are the five arms of outreach that the speaker mentions, and why are they important?

The five arms of outreach include government, nonprofits, schools, the business community, and faith-based organizations. These arms represent the different sectors of society that must work together to provide structure, support, and belonging to vulnerable individuals, especially children.

What are the speaker's three challenges to the audience at the end of the speech?

The speaker challenges the audience to (1) universally assess children for ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scores to identify those in need, (2) reinvest saved incarceration costs into treatment programs for adults, and (3) come together as a community to provide better opportunities for children and adults to succeed.

Outlines

00:00

🌊 The Power of Prevention in Crime and Health

This paragraph introduces the idea that addressing the root causes of crime and social health determinants can make society safer. The speaker shares a metaphor involving a bridge with a hole that causes people to fall into the river. By fixing the bridge, future problems can be prevented. The speaker emphasizes the importance of prevention, reflecting on years of experience as a district attorney and the profound effect of community engagement on reducing crime.

05:02

🚨 Breaking the Cycle: From Prisons to Community Solutions

This paragraph discusses the ineffectiveness of mass incarceration and the need to find alternative solutions. The speaker critiques the U.S. prison system, which holds 25% of the world's prisoners despite representing only 5% of the population. They argue for community-based approaches, highlighting that most incarcerated individuals return to society but are often worse off, perpetuating the cycle of crime. The speaker calls for building community structures to prevent crime, similar to how the starfish regenerates after losing an arm.

10:03

📈 Business and Schools: Partners in Crime Reduction

The third paragraph highlights the critical roles of businesses and schools in preventing crime. By providing education and job opportunities, crime can be reduced, especially for justice-involved individuals. The speaker recounts efforts to create job opportunities for formerly incarcerated people through initiatives like 'Hometown Hires,' which successfully placed 500 individuals into careers. They emphasize that nothing stops a bullet faster than a good-paying job, advocating for reintegration and community support for those with criminal records.

15:04

👩‍⚕️ Health, Justice, and Resilience: Building a Safer Society

The final paragraph ties together health and justice, discussing the importance of addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to prevent future criminal behavior. The speaker shares how trauma affects children's development and increases their likelihood of entering the criminal justice system. They call for universal ACE assessments for children, reinvesting in treatment for drug addiction, and fostering community support to heal both individuals and society. The closing story about a child saving starfish reinforces the idea that every effort matters, even if the overall problem seems overwhelming.

Keywords

💡Social determinants of health

Social determinants of health refer to the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that affect their overall health. In the video, the speaker connects these determinants to the root causes of crime, arguing that addressing issues like poverty, housing instability, and addiction can prevent crime and make communities safer.

💡Root causes of crime

Root causes of crime refer to the fundamental issues that contribute to criminal behavior, such as poverty, lack of education, and substance abuse. The speaker emphasizes that by addressing these underlying problems through social and health interventions, society can prevent crime before it occurs.

💡Upstream intervention

Upstream intervention involves addressing problems at their source rather than dealing with their consequences. The story of the first responder fixing a broken bridge to stop people from falling into a river symbolizes this concept. The speaker advocates for focusing on prevention efforts, such as improving community conditions, to stop crime before it starts.

💡Recidivism

Recidivism refers to the tendency of previously incarcerated individuals to re-offend and return to prison. The speaker highlights that current methods, such as imprisonment without rehabilitation, lead to high recidivism rates, with 66% of released prisoners being re-incarcerated within three years. He argues for alternative solutions like treatment and community reintegration to reduce recidivism.

💡Youth Enrichment Zone

The Youth Enrichment Zone is a community initiative modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone. It aims to reduce crime by focusing on the needs of children in high-crime areas, providing them with educational and social support. The speaker discusses how this program has helped decrease violent crime by 28% in just three years through increasing graduation rates and providing structure to children at risk of joining gangs.

💡ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) score

The ACE score is a measure of the negative experiences a child may face, such as abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction. The speaker explains how higher ACE scores correlate with greater risks for criminal behavior, addiction, and even physical health issues like heart disease. He advocates for universal ACE assessments in schools to identify at-risk children early and provide them with necessary support.

💡Crime mapping

Crime mapping is a tool used to identify geographic areas with high levels of criminal activity. The speaker describes how his community used crime mapping to isolate a zone of concentrated poverty and crime. This information led to targeted interventions through the Youth Enrichment Zone, which helped reduce violence and improve living conditions in that area.

💡Justice reinvestment

Justice reinvestment is the process of reallocating funds from incarceration towards community programs that aim to prevent crime, such as addiction treatment and mental health services. The speaker advocates for this approach, noting how his region has closed prisons and reduced the prison population while reinvesting in services that address the root causes of crime.

💡Nonprofits and community collaboration

The speaker emphasizes the importance of nonprofits and community organizations working together to address social issues and prevent crime. He discusses how organizations in his community, such as the Blue Ribbon Commission, have reduced violence by improving graduation rates and fostering collaboration instead of competition. This collective approach is seen as key to creating lasting change.

💡Resilience

Resilience refers to the ability to recover from adversity. The speaker highlights the resilience of children, emphasizing that despite experiencing trauma or adverse conditions, they can still succeed if given the right support. He advocates for community efforts to 'buffer' children from harm and change their life trajectories through early intervention and positive reinforcement.

Highlights

Prevention is key in both health and crime; addressing social determinants of health can also address the root causes of crime.

A powerful analogy about a broken bridge upstream that, when fixed, stopped people from falling into the river, representing proactive solutions rather than reactive ones.

A 65% reduction in violent crime over the past 20 years shows success in Wilmington, but profound issues like the opioid epidemic, gang violence, and rising foster care placements persist.

In one year, there were 285 forced placements of children into foster care, up from 140 two years prior, reflecting the scale of family breakdown due to addiction and other crises.

The success of crime mapping, which geographically isolated areas of high crime, led to the creation of a Youth Enrichment Zone modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone.

The Youth Enrichment Zone, through targeted intervention, reduced violent crime by 28% by increasing graduation rates.

In the Youth Enrichment Zone, only 4 out of 253 children had fathers present, highlighting the role of family structure in crime and poverty.

America holds 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the global prison population, underscoring the need for alternative approaches to incarceration.

A call for reinvesting funds saved from reduced incarceration into treatment programs for those who are mentally ill or drug-addicted.

Nonprofits, businesses, schools, and faith-based communities must work together to create healthier, safer communities, as demonstrated in Wilmington.

A powerful metaphor of a starfish that regenerates its limbs symbolizes the need for community resilience and healing.

School attendance and engagement are critical: a reopened school in the Youth Enrichment Zone became the number one school in attendance, achieving a 98% rate.

Businesses were encouraged to hire individuals with criminal records, contributing to community restoration by giving them a second chance.

The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) score is a powerful predictor of future involvement in the criminal justice system, with 62% of IV drug users having four or more ACEs.

Children are resilient, and with the right interventions, they can overcome adversity; the call is for universal ACE assessments starting in the first grade.

Transcripts

[Music]

announced that prevention it's worth a

pound of cure doctors nurses your mother

they've been saying that for years but

now it's time that prosecutors police

officers and judges say the same thing

because it turns out that the social

determinants of health they're the same

thing as the root causes of crime stated

another way when we lift up and treat

those in need we make all of us safer

you know water shapes this region the

mighty Atlantic Ocean to the east the

Cape Fear River to the west and it's

also shaped my thinking and there's two

stories I want to share with you that

come from the water there was a man

drowning in the Cape Fear River in

downtown Wilmington and first responders

came in an attempt to rescue him and as

they dove in to help they started seeing

more of people floating down this same

river the natural response was to jump

in and have more first responders to

help but the problem only grew and so

did the response and that's when one

enterprising first responder decided to

walk upstream to see where the problem

was coming from she came upon a bridge a

bridge that people were trying to cross

but there was a hole in the middle and

simply by repairing the bridge she

stopped the people from falling in for

the last 20 years I've been giving

victims a voice at the courthouse I

speak for the dead in murder trials I'm

the conscience for this community

anytime a crime occurs and what I can

tell you is through this job I get to

meet everyone we have five thousand

felonies and 20,000 misdemeanors in my

district every year that's on top of

50,000 traffic tickets in fact some of

you look familiar

but I don't wait for you to come to the

courthouse to go out and meet you I

speak to about 10,000 students every

year in schools I believe it's important

to have an adult conversation with them

about choices and consequences before

they have a right to remain silent but

here's what I have found by doing all of

those things the problems we have at the

courthouse are bigger than we can solve

alone and you've been doing incredible

work in this community

in fact I give every one of my 50

employees two hours off each week to go

volunteer in the community to

proactively prevent the crime that we

see to go upstream but you know it's

just not enough even with the successes

we've enjoyed and check out this number

over the last twenty years we've reduced

violent crime by 65 percent in this

region sixty-five percent it's at the

lowest levels of recorded history

according to our chief and our sheriff

it's never been safer to be in the port

city than right now so why aren't you

cheering I'll tell you why because

there's profound issues that were

confronting and we know what they are

the opioid epidemic if there was ever a

public safety issue in need of a public

health solution that would qualify we're

losing a hundred thirty people a day to

heroin and fentanyl in this country that

translates to about one per week

overdosing in my district statistically

we know of this about our babies five

years ago there were 37 children born

addicted at new head of a Regional

Medical Center last year 135 in our

family treatment courts where we look at

DSS placements into foster care when

these families can no longer take care

of themselves two years ago a hundred

forty forced placements of these

children into other homes last year two

hundred eighty five and then there's the

gang violence the seemingly never-ending

downward spiral of retribution and

retaliation as today's victim becomes

tomorrow's defendant and they look a

whole lot alike by the way drive-by

shootings 30 murder cases last year what

can we do well about a decade ago we got

involved with something called crime

mapping that's where we decided to

geographically isolate where

to this crime was coming from we didn't

pick the area it picked us we looked at

ShotSpotter data literally listening to

where gunshots were coming but also

police reports and even unreported

medical interventions that were

happening at the hospital we found that

it was in a place of crushing poverty

around public housing and all the rest

of the open-air drug transactions of

violent crime that you can think of was

right there so we drew a big zone around

it and called it the youth enrichment

zone and we patterned it after the

Harlem Children's Zone that maybe many

of you have heard about and then we got

to work we decided to go under the roofs

of the children living in this place to

learn a little bit more about what their

day look like we visited 87 homes where

there were 253 children living there

total of four fathers you know when kids

lack structure at home they find it in

each other and that's called a gang so

what do we do with the kids that are

falling through the cracks in the bridge

to say nothing of the mentally ill and

the drug-addicted well for years our

response was to have that pound of cure

called a prison cell we got really good

at that in our country we have 5% of the

world's population and 25% of the

Earth's prisoners let me repeat that in

case you missed it in America we have 5%

of the world's population and 25% of the

Earth's prisoners in that old cliche

about lock them up and throw away the

key doesn't work 98% of the people that

we're putting in prison are getting out

and they're not getting out better in

fact 66% of them are back in that jail

cell within three years under the

current rates of recidivism we have to

do something else so if we don't need to

be building more prisons what do we need

to be building it turns out it's

community because community is also a

structure I've heard it read and seeing

that it's the structure for belonging

and in our community to go out now to

the Atlantic Beach I'm inspired by a

starfish to show you about the structure

of our community you know the starfish

is

one of the healthiest creatures on the

planet because when it breaks off an arm

it has the ability to regenerate itself

I almost never see healthy people at the

courthouse I'm referring now not just to

individual mind body and spirit to be

sure that's included but also people

with healthy relationships among and

between each other we need to focus on

health only about eight percent of us

visit the hospital on any given year and

usually that's in a traumatic event but

a hundred percent of us need to be

worried about wellness

now emanating out from the center of

this starfish are the five arms of

outreach they're the five things that we

can do to lovingly embrace the people

who are falling through those cracks

they're the five things that give

belonging and structure to the people

who I'm talking about and they exist not

just here in my district but in any

place in our country let's talk about

who those groups are and what we're

doing about it in the time I've been

District Attorney first of course

there's the government the government

has a real role here in terms of Public

Safety you know about five years ago I

created a group called law enforcement

leaders to reduce crime and

incarceration and actually you can do

both I went up to Washington DC with

other leaders from around our country to

call our nation to a higher purpose and

met with President Obama and said look

at the example of what we've done here

in North Carolina while these crime

rates have continued to plunge we've

closed 11 prisons we've reduced the

prison population by 10 percent that's

4,000 people to be sure we want habitual

felons the drug traffickers the violent

criminals rapists murderers armed

robbers child molesters of course we

want them in prison but not people who

are mentally ill not people who are drug

addicted

we need to reinvest that money into

their treatment that we save in

incarceration and that's what we've been

doing not just here in Wilmington but

throughout North Carolina and it's

working next we need to focus on

nonprofits that's a great arm of the

starfish in that youth enrichment zone

and I mentioned we created a nonprofit

called the Blue Ribbon Commission on the

prevention of youth violence in just

three short years we reduce violent

crime by 28% by increasing grad

raishin rates by that same number that's

an unbelievable statistic and we did

that organically among all of these

nonprofits that were once in competition

with each other where there were silos

suddenly there was synergy where there

was conflict now there was collaboration

and the whole community came together

and said these aren't black children or

white children they're God's children

and we need to do something better

next of course is the business community

in the schools and at first I want to

focus on the schools because our

children belong there and our adults

belong in jobs fully 70 percent of the

people in prison and on my local jail

they're high school dropouts so keeping

them in school is everything in that

youth enrichment zone when a school

closed down that actually Michael Jordan

graduated from DC Virgo we reopened it

we reopened it as a school of excellence

every child received not just a uniform

but a laptop an extended school day and

a free lunch their grandmothers who were

raising them got involved and made sure

that they had a safe place to go and in

just the first year out of the 42

schools in the public system number one

in the district for attendance rate 98

percent that's an unbelievable thing

because when you give a kid a good place

to go to school and a safe place to

learn they'll respond next as I said is

the business community because the

adults in our community understand the

crime is bad for business

and the business leaders in particular

understand that the street has always

been an equal opportunity employer I met

with a hundred CEOs behind the scenes

and said hire just one person one person

who's justice involved because we have

created a permanent underclass in this

country the scarlet letter F for felony

or M for misdemeanor we have to do

better by them if we're gonna welcome

them all the way back we created

something called hometown hires that was

five years ago and in that time 500

people have been placed into careers

over these next five years we're gonna

place another thousand nothing stops a

bullet quicker than a good-paying job

and then finally the faith-based

community got involved they know that

justice means more than punishing the

wicked it means lifting up the poor in

the oppressed when the old jail closed

down right

next to the courthouse and moved to the

suburbs leaving an empty shell these

different houses of faith pooled their

resources and said let's put our faith

into work they got together and they

brought in different groups to work on

things from human trafficking to

domestic violence our drug treatment

court was run out of there this place of

incarceration became a place of

transformation treating the whole

individual in the whole family unit and

so all of these things are something to

celebrate they are working that's why

the crime rate is dropping and it's

thanks to all of you in this room so why

do we still have people falling through

that hole that I talked about in our

bridge I think it's because we lost

sight of the center we've lost sight of

health you know doctors and lawyers have

long worked together in my profession to

solve cases and prove them beyond a

reasonable doubt this man who had just

convicted of a triple homicide yesterday

we solved it through DNA and the

certainty of science can not only help

us solve these cases it can actually

predict who we're going to see in the

criminal justice system and whose

funeral we're going to attend if we do

nothing here's how it works you know at

hospitals they used to ask questions

like your family history related to

diabetes or to heart disease or to

cancer but a few years ago some

enterprising doctors took what turned

out to be 17,000 patients and started

taking a different family history these

social determinants of health they

created this thing called the ACE score

that stands for adverse childhood

experiences AC e there's ten questions

and the answers to those questions will

have profound implications in a child's

life here they are are your parents

divorced is one of them incarcerated

have you been witnessing domestic

violence under the roof of your home how

about drug use are you neglecting have

you been getting abused mentally or

physically or sexually a child who

answers four or more of those questions

yes has a lot of challenges ahead

70% greater likelihood of coming down to

the courthouse where I work as a

defendant or as a victim in a violent

crime one day 62% of our IV drug users

here in my community and yours answered

for more questions yes and when trauma

is not just an event but it's a daily

process it quite literally changes the

body chemistry and the brain chemistry

ischemic heart disease diabetes teen

pregnancy depression suicide over a

lifetime a kid who answers four of those

questions yes has a 20-year less life

expectancy than everyone else they're

the ones falling through our bridge so

what can we do well here's the really

good news the good news is is that kids

are not washed up at age 8 the clay is

not hardened at age 12 kids are

resilient they can bounce back we can

change the arc of their future in fact I

encourage every justice official in this

room and those watching now to watch

resilience the movie that discusses ace

scores and how you can apply it in your

courthouse - but I'll say this about

these efforts it requires all of us

because if we identify these kids now we

can still find them and buffer them and

make them better and healthy moving

forward which brings me to the second

story from the water there was a little

child he was running down the beach

saving starfish as quickly as he could

they were literally dying on dry land

they were baking in the Sun and they

needed to be returned to the water and

so he said about that task with a fierce

sense of urgency and as he tossed these

fish into the water and it wiser old

adult came and said what are you doing

and he said I'm saving starfish said but

look the Sun is so hot the water has

receded there's so many out before you

you can't possibly make a difference

that little child without looking up

toss the next starfish in and said it

mattered to that one you know

statistics in Washington they have names

in Wilmington I've met them

I've told their stories now they're true

stories in a courtroom for two decades

these bridge work that we all need to be

engaging in right now I have three

challenges for you the first is that we

need to do everything we can to get

these kids universally assessed starting

in the first grade I call for every

child in New Hanover in Kent Pender

counties to be universally assessed for

a scores right now so that we can know

which kids need our resources and need

our five arms of support to reach out

and take care of them second yeah you

bet second for the older adults that are

falling through the cracks we need to

welcome them all the way back to society

if they have a drug addiction or even if

they've been incarcerated you know

through justice reinvestment we've saved

five hundred million dollars over the

last seven years but the idea is it

actually needs to be reinvested back

into treatment and so I'm gonna

challenge our legislature to make good

on the promise that they made to me

when I was president the conference the

district attorneys and we were passing

that law and finally I'll say this to

all of you you know this is not new it's

not novel you don't need a prosecutor to

prove it to you and you don't need

government to give it to you because we

hold these truths to be self-evident

that all of us are created equal that

were endowed by our creator with certain

inalienable augur

the longer I do this job what I realize

is the way to protect life and secure

the blessings of liberty is to make sure

that everyone gets to pursue happiness

that means great schools for kids it

means better jobs for adults it means

that we not only do justice but love

mercy together now the DNA of our

country talks about walking this bridge

arm in arm and the things that divide us

whether they're rural versus Metro black

versus white young versus old Republican

versus Democrat we need to all come

together right now in the interests of

our children the bridge to a better

tomorrow starts with leaving a place of

sickness to a place of health a place of

danger to a place of safety what's going

to allow the kids who I see down at that

courthouse to succeed are the same

things that have caused many of you to

succeed too it's a healthy dose of tough

love these children who I see every day

and will be into the future they've seen

the tough hay whelming ttan hay

Washington hay world it's time to show

them the love thank you very much

[Applause]

[Music]