Bleeding Out

The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence--and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets

By: Thomas Abt

Narrated by: Brad Raymond

From a Harvard scholar and former Obama official, a powerful proposal for curtailing violent crime in America
Urban violence is one of the most divisive and allegedly intractable issues of our time. But as Harvard scholar Thomas Abt shows in Bleeding Out, we actually possess all the tools necessary to stem violence in our cities.

Coupling the latest social science with firsthand experience as a crime-fighter, Abt proposes a relentless focus on violence itself -- not drugs, gangs, or guns. Because violence is "sticky," clustering among small groups of people and places, it can be predicted and prevented using a series of smart-on-crime strategies that do not require new laws or big budgets. Bringing these strategies together, Abt offers a concrete, cost-effective plan to reduce homicides by over 50 percent in eight years, saving more than 12,000 lives nationally. Violence acts as a linchpin for urban poverty, so curbing such crime can unlock the untapped potential of our cities' most disadvantaged communities and help us to bridge the nation's larger economic and social divides.

Urgent yet hopeful, Bleeding Out offers practical solutions to the national emergency of urban violence -- and challenges readers to demand action.

Critic reviews

"A fine new book, Bleeding Out,by Thomas Abt, sheds light on the issue of urban violence and offers some practical, street-tested solutions to it...Abt's approach is, in the classic American manner, an empirical one...[He] recommends neither noxious stop-and-frisk policies nor amorphous community policing but, instead, what he calls 'partnership-oriented crime prevention'-using all of a city's resources."—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker

"Thomas Abt is a critical voice in our national discourse on crime and violence. His work bears the crucial intellectual virtues of exhaustive research, conscientious study, and meticulously drawn conclusions. Agree or disagree with him but by all means read him."—Jelani Cobb, Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism, Columbia Journalism School

"[Abt's] thinking breaks from political orthodoxy on both the left and the right: The main reason violence is so persistent in the United States, he believes, isn't that gun laws are too weak (a common argument among liberals) or that police critics have hamstrung tough street-clearing tactics (an often-stated conservative belief). It's that not enough cities, whatever their political leanings, are properly using basic strategies that are known to persuade would-be shooters not to acquire guns, and not to use them on one another, in the first place."—Atlantic

"[Abt] presents a vision for dealing with urban violence by fundamentally rethinking how law enforcement and other government resources are used...Bleeding Out makes a compelling case that there is a path forward."—Vox

"Bleeding Out fills an important gap in the emerging criminal justice canon...For Abt, reducing the homicide rate is the first step toward achieving broader social change...Bleeding Out makes a strong case that 'sustainable crime control does not happen without social justice, and vice versa.'"—New York Law Journal

"Abt's book leans into impact evaluations, interviews, and systematic reviews to build a framework for violence reduction that is at once non-ideological and internally coherent...A thoughtful, research-driven examination of some of the thorniest, most painful issues."—The Crime Report

"Focus on the violence itself, separately from our endless political bickering...The immediate actions Abt counsels are not all that expensive, and they are not all that partisan...They deserve strong support."—National Review

"Abt skillfully mixes academic research, information about previously instituted pilot programs, and interviews with families devastated by gun-related homicides to propose a multistep solution that he believes will reduce gun deaths in cities across the country...A useful addition to the necessarily growing literature on urban violence."—Kirkus

Important read

This is an important read for those on the frontline combating violence in US cities

Critical reading for equity-seekers.

Anyone who claims to care about equity needs to put their money where their mouth is and educate themselves, starting with this book.

useful information in the right hands

very useful information but as an individual I felt there was very little I could do to be helpful.

Crime and Social Review

I thought this book covered many of the current social and economic issues in high crime areas. Although I don't believe all the issues discussed have a simple fix, I do believe many of the topics are on the right track. Social inequality is definitely part of the issue, but parenting or lack there of plays a bigger part. Overall a good book on a hot topic!

A balanced and intelligent discussion

The author spares no one in his persuit for a solution to murderous violence in our cities. This book should be required reading for all mayors, city councils, school commissioners and police chiefs of all of our cities.