In 1989, 18-year-old Sherman Spears was shot by someone seeking revenge against a friend he was visiting. The gunshot paralyzed him. While at the hospital, he had to adjust to a new way of moving. But he also felt scared and lost - and desperately needed support.
Eventually, he crossed paths with a violence prevention organization called Youth Alive. With the director’s blessing, Spears began meeting with other survivors of violence at the hospital. He asked them what they were going through, spoke from his own experience, and gave them his number.
Spears’ mentorship approach turned into Caught in the Crossfire, the U.S.’ first hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP). And by 2004, an evaluation found that their clients were 70% less likely to be arrested and 98% less likely to be rehospitalized for violence-related injuries.
Today, HVIPs exist nationwide, but they are consistently underfunded. Still, they reduce revenge shootings, protect prospective victims, and offer survivors physical, emotional, and psychological support.
Instead of continuing a cycle of violence through the criminal legal system, this approach asks, “What do people need?”
The system has created a culture that encourages us to view safety as something only policing and incarceration can achieve. But despite that culture, we’ve always had community members like Spears dedicated to redefining what safety means for us and building a better future for us all.