ABSTRACT
Youth homicides are not inevitable, but preventable. In 2015, governments at the United Nations committed to reduce homicides significantly before 2030, but they will not achieve these reductions without acting differently immediately. This chapter highlights actions outlined in this handbook and elsewhere that would contribute to significant reductions in homicides. It then shares essential elements agreed upon at inter-governmental levels, and used by some successful pathfinder cities, that are necessary to tailor evidence-based and effective actions to local issues. Further, this chapter identifies compelling arguments to shift investment toward saving lives, including avoiding violations of human rights, protecting the rule of law and democracy, and increasing gross domestic product. In the last decade, movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo have called for reductions in victimization, but governments have yet to renounce the status quo and act differently. This inaction is in part because they fear the loss of what is often believed to uphold community safety and protection, that is, the status quo of policing and incarceration. The movement towards saving lives has also failed because significantly reducing homicides requires adequate and sustained investment and retooling for key officials and practitioners to have the skills needed to plan and implement proven and promising approaches.
