The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

the program, participants are eligible to receive a stipend of up to $1,000—undoubtedly
the most contentious aspect of the initiative.
Tubbs has also promoted the Office of Violence Prevention, which includes Operation
Ceasefire and Peacekeepers, a mentoring program for at-risk youth.
The city’s holistic approach to stamping out gun violence comes as it is also bolstering
its police department, which now has a record number of officers.
Tubbs envisions a city in which the police work is part and parcel of a broader crimereduction
strategy.
“For the past 30 years, Stockton has been double or triple the state average
consistently for gun violence and homicides. When I was elected to city council, we had
71 homicides, which was more per capita than Chicago at the time. Unacceptably high
rates of violence,” Tubbs says. “We now have more police officers than we ever had.
But we also have an understanding that cops in and of itself are necessary but not
sufficient. That the cops don’t do prevention work, they come in after a crime has been
committed. But there’s a lot of upstream factors and indicators we can use to figure out
who is it that’s going to drive gun violence in our community. And figure out how do we
streamline our institutions so they track those signs early so we don’t have to go to
enforcement to create change.”
For Tubbs, his city, and the state itself, the work never ends.
When we spoke with Tubbs in late April, the preceding weekend had been especially
violent, with three recorded homicides in as many days. Tubbs and his staff were going
to spend the rest of the week strategizing about how they could improve.
“It’s not a sexy topic,” he explains. “It’s not one to easily win on. But it’s one I’m
committed to making sure that by the time I leave as mayor of Stockton, we’re on a
trend towards a steady decline in gun violence.”
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