The Sacramento City Council will consider a program that would pay some of Sacramento's most violent people to do the right thing.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the "Advance Peace" program will identify the 50 people who police and the community believe are responsible for the most gun violence. Those in the program can receive stipends in addition to job training and other services.
"We provide them with intensive mentorship," Steinberg said. "We give them incentives to engage in job training. We expose them to things they may have never seen before in their lives like, you know, culture and art and those sorts of things."
The "Advance Peace" program would cost $1.5 million over three years from the Gang Prevention and Intervention project.
The City of Richmond embarked on a similar program in 2015.
The Richmond Community Foundation reports that, of the 84 people considered to be the "most lethal" who took part in the program, 79 are still alive, 64 have not been arrested for a firearms-related offense, and 69 have not been injured by a firearm.
The Richmond Community Foundation says the number of firearm-related deaths decreased by 31 percent and firearm-related assaults decreased by 21 percent.
The City Council was scheduled to consider the idea in mid September, but Steinberg asked that it be heard at Tuesday's meeting after five people were shot Sunday afternoon in a Meadowview neighborhood.
Stockton is considering a similar program.
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