Dr. Shea Cronin Credits Boston’s Reduced Crime Statistics to Coordinated Approach

The city of Boston has enjoyed a positive downswing in crime thus far in 2024, as murders have been reduced by 82 percent since last year, the greatest rate of decline in the nation. According to Metropolitan College Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Shea Cronin, this development can be credited to the effectiveness of urban violence prevention programs, as well as the efforts of Mayor Michelle Wu, whose violence prevention initiatives are aimed at reducing homicides and shootings by 20 percent by 2026.

Speaking with BU Today, Dr. Cronin explained that while the Wu Administration’s year-old efforts cannot wholly account for the reduction in gun violence, the coordination between the mayor’s office, the Public Health Commission, and the Boston Police Department, and other agencies likely play a key role.

“They’ve created a network of centering violence as a public health approach in the well-being of young people—pulling them out of things that can push them towards violence, retaliatory violence, or associating with groups in their neighborhoods that might be engaged in violence,” he said. “That has also been the work of specific programs that have been in Boston for quite a while, but have been, I think, reinvigorated with the leadership.”

The chair of the Department of Applied Social Sciences, Dr. Cronin also highlighted the role data-driven policy making and policing play in effective law enforcement. These are the core lessons MET students learn when they earn the Master of Criminal Justice with concentration in Crime Analysis, as well as the Graduate Certificate in Crime Analysis.

Dr. Cronin’s insights were featured in the Bay State Banner.