SALT LAKE CITY — “The most powerful root cause of violence is violence,” David Kennedy, the creator and criminologist behind the Boston Gun Project and the Operation Ceasefire strategy, told Utah leaders Wednesday.

Kennedy met with Utah lawmakers, school board members, prosecutors, defense attorneys and others to provide insight into his experience and aid the state’s fight against gun violence, as part of the Youth Violence Prevention and Public Safety Working Group led by Utah state Rep. Tyler Clancy.

The Boston Gun Project was developed in 1995 and implemented in 1996. Kennedy created the strategy, in tandem with Harvard University, to try to eliminate the pervasive drug markets of the 1980s. He had learned the markets were inexplicably tied to violence, oftentimes leading to killing

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