The Metro: Fewer killings in Detroit and what made it possible

Protesters in Detroit walk along Clairmount Avenue near Rosa Parks Boulevard in June 2020, days after the murder of George Floyd. A new generation of protesters, sparked by the rising awareness that police disproportionately kill Black and brown people, is among the forces helping to reshape American systems and what is expected from them, says Detroit Justice Center’s Nancy A. Parker.

Photo credit: Russ McNamara

Detroit ended 2025 with one of its lowest homicide totals in decades. The number is striking — and incomplete. In this conversation, our executive director, Nancy A. Parker, joins Robyn Vincent to talk about the long, sometimes invisible work that shapes public safety: housing stability, community trust, movement lawyering, and the slow effort to repair systems from the inside.

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