Archived Event
This symposium took place December 11–12, 2024. The registration link is no longer active. The content — Vera’s framing on gun diversion, the speakers, and the research — remains relevant and is preserved here as a reference. Visit
vera.org for current Vera Institute events and research.
The Vera Institute of Justice — an organization near and dear to my heart — hosted a two-day virtual symposium exploring ways to reduce gun violence and increase safety through gun diversion programs and community-based strategies. This is exactly the kind of serious, evidence-grounded conversation the justice system desperately needs more of.
Organization Profile — Vera Institute of Justice
Vera Institute of Justice
vera.org
Vera is a national nonprofit research and policy organization focused on reducing mass incarceration, ending racial disparities in the justice system, and reimagining public safety. Vera conducts original research, partners with governments and community organizations, and advocates for evidence-based reforms across pretrial detention, immigration enforcement, police accountability, and gun violence prevention. Their work consistently bridges the gap between research and practice — and their research appears throughout Clutch Justice’s coverage because it holds up.
Event
Guns in the United States — Two-Day Virtual Symposium
Dates
December 11–12, 2024
11:00 AM – 4:30 PM EST
Cost
Free — virtual format
What the Symposium Covered
The symposium explored the history of gun criminalization and its effects, plus innovative responses to reducing gun crimes and promoting public safety. Panelists assessed root causes, impacts, and potential solutions to the overlapping problems of gun criminalization, illegal gun possession, and gun violence — with particular attention to community-based strategies and gun diversion programs as alternatives to incarceration.
Why Gun Diversion Matters
Gun diversion programs redirect individuals with low-level gun possession offenses — particularly those without violent histories — away from incarceration and toward community-based interventions: violence interruption programs, mental health services, or community accountability processes. The evidence base is growing. The argument is straightforward: if incarceration doesn’t deter crime and destabilizes families and communities, then alternatives that actually address root causes are not soft on crime. They are smarter on public safety.
Speakers
Larry Krasner
District Attorney, Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, PA
Kim Foxx
Former State’s Attorney for Cook County, IL
Marlon Peterson
Author and Executive Director, The Precedential Group
Tinisch Hollins
Californians for Safety and Justice
Matt Epperson
Smart Decarceration Project, University of Chicago
A Krasner/Foxx pairing alone signals that this was a serious policy-level conversation — both have built records around reforming prosecution practices in major urban jurisdictions, and both have faced significant political resistance for doing so. Combined with researchers from the Smart Decarceration Project and community practitioners, the panel represented exactly the kind of cross-sector conversation that produces actionable policy thinking.
Related Coverage — Public Safety, Deterrence, and Alternatives to Incarceration
How to cite: Williams, R. [Rita]. (2024, November 22). The Vera Institute of Justice Hosting Two-Day Symposium on Guns in the US. Clutch Justice. https://clutchjustice.com/2024/11/22/the-vera-institute-of-justice-hosting-two-day-symposium-on-guns-in-the-us/
