To Britain’s leader, Hub a model for antiviolence

“Violence is deeply rooted in how people feel like they’ve been denied in society. It’s more than just criminality,’’ said the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, executive director of the Ten Point Coalition, a faith-based community group that works with young people and that partnered with government and law enforcement officials to reduce violence in Boston.

“There’s a level of frustration of how society is ignoring their voices,’’ Brown added. “When we talk about gang violence, it’s not just about territories or drugs. It’s also disconnected youth who also need their voices to be heard.’’

“It’s not about the immediate unrest,’’ said David Kennedy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and one of the architects of Operation Ceasefire, the anti-gang component of the Boston Miracle. “What the prime minister is saying is, we need a different way to address street violence and there is this existing successful model that we’re going to study.’’

The Boston Miracle was the name given to the drop in homicides that occurred in Boston from 1997 to 2000 and was credited to a novel partnership between the community, clergy, and law enforcement. Operation Ceasefire, launched in 1996, offered gang members alternatives and threatened them with tough prosecution if they contributed to violence. The homicide rate plummeted over the decade, from a record 152 in 1990 to 31 in 1999.

The violent protests that have paralyzed London began peacefully last Saturday when residents gathered outside a police station in the northern London neighborhood of Tottenham to protest the police killing of a man named Mark Duggan. But the protests turned ugly and then spread to other cities as part of a campaign orchestrated using social media.