Steve Adubato is joined by Craig Carpenito, U.S. Attorney for the District of NJ, on State of Affairs to discuss critical issues facing New Jersey including violent crime, gang violence, and the opioid crisis.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is making strides towards prosecuting more gang-related crimes. The number of gang-related cases being prosecuted is up 56%. Carpenito attributes that increase to a better understanding of the connection between quality of life and gang violence.

Carpenito says today, law enforcement is better equipped to stop the violence before it occurs – by using intel that helps them understand the background of gangs more clearly.

In addition, through gang prosecutions and trigger-lock prosecutions, which prohibits those previously prosecuted and convicted of felonies from carrying guns, 486 guns have been taken off the streets and removed from the hands of criminals. As a result of this, the number of shootings are down 30% in both Newark and Jersey City.

On the opioid crisis, he says we need to tackle the epidemic in multiple ways, “…we’re not just going to reactively prosecute cases. We’re trying to get into intelligence-driven prosecutions, by trying to attack the crisis at all three levels.”