Juvenile Community Violence Intervention
Public safety starts with the young.
People 25 and under carry a large share of the gun violence in American cities. If we are not working with them, we are not doing public safety. We The Revolt engages that generation directly, and does it differently.
The premise, in numbers
51.7%
of 4,020 homicide defendants in Cook County, Illinois were under 25 at the time of the offense.
WTR calculation, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Initiation data
40%
of murder arrests in the United States were of people under 25. Murder and weapons arrests both peak at 19.
FBI, Crime in the U.S., 2019
18 to 25
Young adults die by gunfire at a higher rate than any other age group: 20.4 per 100,000.
KFF analysis of CDC WONDER, 2024
No. 1
Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens.
U.S. Surgeon General, 2024
The story
The system was built to find people by their record.
Community violence intervention is one of the most promising tools this country has for stopping shootings without filling more cells. Most of it works the same way. It finds the people at highest risk by reading their history: prior arrests, prior shootings, prior injuries.
A fifteen year old has not written that history yet. So the young person standing at the start of the path is the one the system is least able to see. By the time the record is long enough to qualify, the story has already been told.
Meanwhile the age of risk is falling. Young adults 18 to 25 now die by gunfire at a higher rate than any other age group. Firearm homicide among children 10 to 16 rose to about twice its pre-pandemic rate, most sharply in 2022 and 2023, and stayed there while adult rates recovered. The age of greatest risk fell from 21 to 19.
If we are not working with 25 and under, we are not doing adequate public safety.
Ronnie Lillard, Founder and Executive Director
Most young people held on a gun charge go home within months, and the danger does not end at the gate. In Texas, 46 percent of young people released from state juvenile facilities in fiscal 2023 were rearrested within a year. Services tend to stop at release. Risk does not.
That is the gap Juvenile Community Violence Intervention is built to close: reach young people at their first point of contact, where they already are, and stay with them through the return home and long after.
Most young people held on a gun charge go home within months. What meets them there decides the rest.
The map
Where young lives are lost.
Firearm deaths among young adults vary more than fourfold from state to state, and in the places that publish their data the trend lines point the same direction: younger. Hover over or tap a state to see the city we are watching there and the numbers behind it.
- AL39.5
- AK39.5
- AZ23.8
- AR36.4
- CA10
- CO23.7
- CT5.6
- DE20.5
- DC45.3
- FL18.2Miami hub
- GA33.5
- HIn/a
- ID18.1
- IL24.4Chicago hub
- IN30.6
- IA14.1
- KS16.7
- KY31.1
- LA50.3
- ME21.8
- MD24.7
- MA5.7
- MI16
- MN12.4
- MS52.1
- MO32
- MT19.6
- NE13.6
- NV26.9
- NH12.5
- NJ6.4
- NM39.2
- NY5.9
- NC27.7
- ND12.7
- OH25.3
- OK25.6
- OR17.1
- PA16.7
- RIn/a
- SC35.6
- SD26.5
- TN35.4
- TX23Houston hub
- UT11.7
- VTn/a
- VA22.9
- WA15.6
- WV19.1
- WI14.4
- WY27.5
- Under 10
- 10 to 19
- 20 to 29
- 30 to 39
- 40 and up
- City findings
Firearm deaths per 100,000 people ages 18 to 25, all intents, 2024. KFF analysis of CDC WONDER mortality data. Our three hub states are outlined. City findings come from the agencies, courts and studies named with each one.
See the rates as a table
| State | Rate, 18 to 25 | Deaths, 0 to 17 | Deaths, 18 to 25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 39.5 | 74 | 219 |
| Alaska | 39.5 | 12 | 31 |
| Arizona | 23.8 | 54 | 198 |
| Arkansas | 36.4 | 32 | 120 |
| California | 10 | 98 | 416 |
| Colorado | 23.7 | 39 | 151 |
| Connecticut | 5.6 | ||
| Delaware | 20.5 | 21 | |
| District of Columbia | 45.3 | 38 | |
| Florida | 18.2 | 118 | 396 |
| Georgia | 33.5 | 137 | 407 |
| Idaho | 18.1 | 14 | 41 |
| Illinois | 24.4 | 100 | 328 |
| Indiana | 30.6 | 55 | 234 |
| Iowa | 14.1 | 52 | |
| Kansas | 16.7 | 35 | 58 |
| Kentucky | 31.1 | 41 | 149 |
| Louisiana | 50.3 | 71 | 243 |
| Maine | 21.8 | ||
| Maryland | 24.7 | 37 | 151 |
| Massachusetts | 5.7 | 14 | 46 |
| Michigan | 16 | 52 | 171 |
| Minnesota | 12.4 | 24 | 73 |
| Mississippi | 52.1 | 50 | 169 |
| Missouri | 32 | 76 | 209 |
| Montana | 19.6 | 15 | 23 |
| Nebraska | 13.6 | ||
| Nevada | 26.9 | 23 | 82 |
| New Hampshire | 12.5 | ||
| New Jersey | 6.4 | 17 | 59 |
| New Mexico | 39.2 | 24 | 91 |
| New York | 5.9 | 35 | 121 |
| North Carolina | 27.7 | 98 | 332 |
| North Dakota | 12.7 | ||
| Ohio | 25.3 | 81 | 306 |
| Oklahoma | 25.6 | 40 | 118 |
| Oregon | 17.1 | 18 | 72 |
| Pennsylvania | 16.7 | 64 | 224 |
| South Carolina | 35.6 | 65 | 202 |
| South Dakota | 26.5 | ||
| Tennessee | 35.4 | 83 | 264 |
| Texas | 23 | 265 | 807 |
| Utah | 11.7 | 28 | 56 |
| Virginia | 22.9 | 51 | 213 |
| Washington | 15.6 | 53 | 122 |
| West Virginia | 19.1 | 12 | 34 |
| Wisconsin | 14.4 | 50 | 92 |
| Wyoming | 27.5 |
Close to home
Three cities. One generation.
Miami
229
firearm homicide deaths across Miami-Dade and Broward in 2024.
Florida Department of Health, FLHealthCHARTS
Chicago
40% to 45%
of admissions to Cook County’s juvenile detention center in four months of 2023 carried a weapon charge.
Chapin Hall, JTDC Monthly Indicators Reports, 2023
Houston
261%
rise in juvenile murder and capital murder filings in Harris County since 2019.
Harris County Juvenile District Courts, A Snapshot of the System, 2025
The research
What already works.
The evidence points the same way: start early, start inside, and do not leave.
Inside detention
21%
fewer readmissions for boys who went through a cognitive behavioral program inside Chicago’s juvenile detention center.
A paycheck
43%
fewer violent crime arrests for Chicago teens given a summer job.
Credible messengers
69%
lower felony reconviction a year later for young people on probation mentored by people who had walked the same road.
What locking up does
13 pts
lower high school completion, and 22 points higher adult incarceration, for youth who were incarcerated.
The cost of a cell
$214,620
a year, on average, to confine one young person.
What does not work
1.68x
the odds of reoffending after Scared Straight style programs. Fear is not a strategy.
The answer
This is public safety work.
Reaching this generation takes a different approach, and a more aggressive one. Meet real needs fast. Understand how culture shapes the choices in front of a young person. Show up the same way every week. Give them a new identity to grow into, and walk with them as guides, not guards.
- Juvenile justice. We start inside, stay through release and walk with young people for the year after.
- Young fatherhood. A young father who is present is a protective factor for two generations.
- Workforce. A paycheck and a path change the math of the street.
- Prevention. Mentors, curriculum and culture reach kids before the first contact.
- Faith and culture. Hip hop, film and the church tell young people who they can become.
Build with us
If not us, who?
Agencies and courts
Open a door for young people in your care. We come in and we stay.
Work with usFunders
The JCVI Fund supports mentors, curriculum and the people doing this work in their own cities.
About the JCVI FundPractitioners
Running a program for young people at risk? Compare notes, share data and build alongside us.
Partner with usMentors
Credible, consistent adults are the whole model. Train with us in Miami, Chicago or Houston.
Volunteer
Sources and notes
- Cook County defendants: WTR calculation from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Initiation dataset, Cook County Open Data, 4,020 homicide defendant cases.
- National arrests by age: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2019, Table 38. Under-25 share calculated from published counts.
- Death rate by age and the state map: KFF State Health Facts, deaths due to firearms by age, from CDC WONDER, 2024.
- Firearms as the leading cause of death, ages 1 to 19: U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence, 2024.
- Firearm homicide among ages 10 to 16 and the age of greatest risk: Jay, Joseph and Goldstick, JAMA Pediatrics 179(5), 2025.
- Homicide by age and weapon: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Victimization in the United States, 2023.
- Rearrest after release: Texas Juvenile Justice Department, Data and Statistics.
- Hub figures: Florida Department of Health, FLHealthCHARTS; Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, JTDC Monthly Indicators Reports; Harris County Juvenile District Courts, A Snapshot of the System, 2025.
- State findings: as cited with each state on the map. Figures marked as WTR calculations are our own counts from the public datasets named.
- Studies: as linked on each card.