Experts and people close to D.C.’s criminal justice system point to several possible reasons — including the lack of a coherent government strategy, the disjointed local-federal nature of D.C.’s criminal justice system, easy access to guns, and the perception among some that they won’t be held accountable for committing crimes.

After their sons Demarcos Pinckney and Kevin Mason were fatally shot, two D.C. sisters are on a tight timeline to cover burial costs.

Dr. Ayanna Bennett, previously the Chief Health Equity Officer in San Francisco, will take leadership of the city’s health department in July.

The initiative is in partnership with Peace For DC, a local organization that supports violence prevention workers.

The killing comes amid an uptick in violence affecting young people in the city.

The city is grappling with a spike and bracing for potentially even more shootings to come: the summer months are often the most violent of the year.

Johns Hopkins professor Daniel Webster and University of Maryland professor Joseph Richardson will spend four years studying the programs’ effectiveness.

Peace for DC is privately funding evidence-based violence prevention tactics in the city’s most violent neighborhoods. Then, once they’ve proven they can work, they want to “invite the government to embrace it.”

In a series of roundtables hosted by Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto, residents said the city is failing its people, and called for grassroots solutions.

Linda Harllee Harper will lead the Office of Gun Violence and Prevention as well as the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.