More Graduations, Less Funerals: Leaders Unite to Reduce Violence

When violence claims young lives, whole communities grieve. But across Arkansas, local leaders are working to turn that grief into action—and results.

At the final meeting in a 3-part series on reducing violence, hosted by the 100 Families Initiative of Pulaski County, two men who have seen both the heartbreak and the hope of this work shared their vision for safer communities: Judge Earnest Brown of Pine Bluff and Sheriff Eric Higgins of Pulaski County.

Judge Brown knows what violence looks like up close. As a juvenile court judge, he has faced the painful reality of seeing a young person in court on Monday, then hearing that same child was shot and killed by Thursday. "That does something to you,” he said. “You think, what could I have done differently?"

Pine Bluff’s story is one of persistence. In 2020, amid a surge of shootings, Brown and local law enforcement began building what would become the first successful example of Group Violence Intervention (GVI) in Arkansas. Judge Brown explains that by following the model with fidelity—not reinventing it to fit local habits—they began to see measurable results.

In 2023, Pine Bluff went 533 days without a juvenile homicide. Overall, violent crime dropped dramatically:

• Homicides fell from 28 to 16

• Aggravated assaults dropped from 391 to 222

• Robberies were cut by more than half

“It wasn’t luck,” Judge Brown said. “It was consistency and collaboration.”

He credited that progress to GVI's “three-legged stool” model: law enforcement, community moral voice, and social services. Each leg has to stay strong for the strategy to work. “GVI is not a program—it’s a strategy,” he reminded the audience. “When you stop doing what works, the violence comes back.”

Judge Brown urged Pulaski County to start strong, with full-time case managers, credible messengers, and data support from day one. “You don’t have to fly out of state to see how this works like we had to,” he said. “Just come down the road to Pine Bluff.”

Sheriff Eric Higgins never planned to go into law enforcement. But an encounter early in his career changed that. A man he treated with kindness told him, “You changed the way I think about police officers.” Higgins decided that if he could make that kind of impact at the bottom, he wanted to see what he could do at the top.

Today, as Pulaski County Sheriff, Higgins leads with a philosophy he calls CSI—Community-focused, Safety-driven, Integrity-based. His approach is less about arrests and more about addressing the root causes of crime.

“Safety-driven means we work with people to address the issues that make them feel unsafe,” Higgins said. “If you’re focused only on arrests, that’s all you’ll do.”

Under his leadership, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office has launched reentry and mentorship programs that are changing lives. Higgins says outcomes include:

• More than 1,000 graduates from the CSI Reentry Program

• A 6% recidivism rate—compared with nearly 50% statewide

• Hundreds connected to jobs, treatment, and housing upon release

He also championed the O.K. Program, which mentors young black boys through partnerships between law enforcement, schools, and churches. “It’s about saving our kids,” he said. “We have to be serious about this—it’s not just about programs. It’s about changing lives.”

Both leaders emphasized that sustaining change requires more than enthusiasm—it takes commitment. “Every time the numbers go down, people think we can stop,” Judge Brown said. “That’s when they go back up.”

Sheriff Higgins echoed that warning. “You may not have everything in place that you want, but if you know what works, do what works,” he said. “We have to be committed—not just today or for a year, but long term.”

Their message was clear: violence reduction isn’t about luck or politics—it’s about relationships. It’s about sticking with what’s proven, even when it’s hard.

Judge Brown agreed, pointing to a favorite slogan: “More graduations, less funerals.”

That’s the vision he hopes to see across Arkansas—and it’s one Pulaski County seems ready to pursue.