Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence?and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets

A powerful proposal for fighting violence in America.

"[Abt] presents a vision for dealing with urban violence by fundamentally rethinking how law enforcement and other government resources are used ... Bleeding Out makes a compelling case that there is a path forward." -Vox

Violent crime remains one of the most divisive and allegedly intractable issues of our time. But we already possess the tools necessary to stem violence on the streets of our cities.

Coupling the latest social science with firsthand experience as a crime-fighter, scholar Thomas Abt proposes a relentless focus on violence itself―not guns, gangs, or drugs. Because violence clusters among small groups of people and places, it can be predicted and then prevented using smart-on-crime strategies that don’t require new laws or big budgets. Curbing such crime can unlock the potential of our cities’ most disadvantaged communities.

Widely read and deeply influential―and now updated with a new preface on crime-fighting successes and challenges in the wake of the pandemic―Bleeding Out offers practical solutions to the national emergency of crime and violence that challenges readers to demand action.

Thomas Abt is the founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction and a professor at the University of Maryland. Previously, he oversaw public safety agencies in New York, served in the US Department of Justice, worked as assistant district attorney in Manhattan, and taught high school in Washington, DC.