Last year, 39 UK youths were fatally stabbed. None were in Scotland. Why?

In the past, Los Angeles was a dangerous city fraught with gang wars. Lately, though, LA has become a safer city due to six changes enforced by the police cracking down on public violence and gangs.

Girls Court brings an all-hands-on-deck approach to the lives of vulnerable girls, linking them to social service agencies, providing informal Saturday sessions on everything from body image to legal jargon, and offering a team of adults in whom they can develop trust.

The California prison system is overwhelmed after adopting tough-on-crime laws with no improvement. New York adopted more tolerant policies and has decreased the state's crime rate and its prison population.

Two Iranian brothers worked as doctors to reform how Iran tackles HIV, moving the country toward the harm reduction approach. By providing clean needles and methadone, the doctors were able to lower infection rates, even in prisons.

After a policeman shot and killed a teenage African American, a community in Cincinnati blamed law enforcement for racial profiling and riots expanded throughout the city. With the help of the Department of Justice as a mediator, Cincinnati made policy changes. The city now has an African American Police Association that brings police officers in communication with representatives of communities.

Areas of High Point, North Carolina have suffered from crime, poverty, and neglect, until the city began implementing Operation Ceasefire, a policing program that uses data collecting, community support against crime. High Point is now leading the country in its success of Operation Ceasefire, boasting dramatic reductions in violent crimes, domestic abuse, robberies, and drug-related offenses.

Richmond, California ranked among the highest homicide rates in the country. The city created the Office of Neighborhood Safety to engage the community in the effort to curb gun violence and prevent homicides. ONS works directly with the young people who are at risk and have succeeded in reducing the homicide rate.

Prisons in the United States are overcrowded with many non-violent offenders and the cost to keep them in jail consumes public budgets. Criminal justice reform has attracted bipartisan interest with diverse proposals to aid adjust the incarceration rate. The Urban Institute has developed an interactive “prison population forecaster,” which helps citizens to assess the impact of different policies.

Palm Beach County, Florida has many of the same social problems that Philadelphia has, including “gangs, drugs, and poverty.” However, their school system has managed to keep students safe by employing “safe-school case managers” who build relationships with students, and they offer a youth court that is a system run by students who peer-review cases of unrest. The initiatives in this county has prevented school violence from happening without metal detectors and just two police officers.

Civic leaders in the U.S. struggle to effectively help their distressed neighborhoods. East Lake, Atlanta, created a replicable model that mixes residents of differing socio-economic status, and focuses on education and health in the area.