Jamielee Aponte
Rasmussen College
Author's Note This is the final draft paper written on December 13th 2015 for Mrs. Lerner's Critical Issues in Criminal Justice class during the Fall 2015 quarter at Rasmussen college.
Crime is everywhere, but more recently gun violence has been plaguing our country. This paper will introduce you to the issue of gun violence in America. Little by little gun violence is dominating our country statistics from the National Institute of Justice state that gun violence has peaked in the past years"467,321 persons were victims of a crime committed with a firearm in 2011. In the same year, data collected by the FBI show that firearms were used in 68 percent of murders, …show more content…
Every day somebody is shot whether it's done intentionally or accidentally. Thankfully, there are programs like the Joyce foundation in Chicago, that have committed to bringing awareness to the issue of gun violence. The Joyce foundation supports efforts at the local, state and national levels building awareness to the problem of gun violence in America, and to educate the public, policy makers and the media about common-sense policies that improve public health and safety. According to the Joyce Foundation, these are the things that must be done to curb gun violence: " Strict enforcement of existing gun laws is a critical part of reducing gun violence. Law enforcement officers and prosecutors play an important role in enforcing the law and keeping communities safe. Existing laws must be vigorously defended to provide police and prosecutors with the tools they need to do their jobs " (The Joyce Foundation, N.D.) Interestingly enough the National Institute of Justice has a list of programs that have been implemented in US history to deter the gun violence in America. Programs such as : Operation ceasefire, Directed Police Patrol, Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative, and Project safe neighborhood are all meant as programs for the prevention of gun violence. These programs have proven to help quite a bit, but the issue of gun violence is still here. The only way to truly prevent gun violence is to take the weapon