As the scorching heat continues to melt the Garden State, this unprecedented heat wave brings another type of danger increased violence, according to several studies, a summer surge in gun violence and crime could be directly tied to the heat.

On this official first day of summer, mental health reporter Bobby Brier took a deeper dive into communities like Paterson, which saw an uptick in crime this year over last and joins me now to discuss his findings.

All right, Bobby, thanks for joining me.

Absolutely.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

So summer is usually a time when people are out there enjoying outside, even when it's hot.

But we also know, according to your reporting, when it's hot out, that's also a time when violence spikes as well.

And so let's talk about the connection with heat and with violence.

Sure.

There's really two theories right now that academics and researchers have pointed to between the correlation between heat and violence and just overall crime in general.

One is the heat aggression theory, essentially that holds that as it gets hotter outside, people tend to be more irritable, tend to be angrier, and often could lead to conflict and violence, including gun violence.

In addition to that, there's a second theory that shows that in cities, especially if it's extremely densely populated, you'll see people going outside of their home more often if they don't have suitable air conditioning units, because that's the case.

There's literally and figuratively more people outside that could and could then bump into each other, which could then create more conflict, more violence, and could potentially lead to more gun violence.

Although those two theories kind of both hold water.

The one that has been more popular amongst researchers and academics recently has been that second theory that there are more people outside are due to the fact that air conditioning units just aren't holding up right now.

Are we seeing a spike in violence?

And in what areas are we talking about?

Because we know that there are also a lot of things going on in different cities to kind of prevent violence as well.

Sure.

Right now, there has been a drop in violence in 2018, gun violence particular in 2023 across the state.

But if you look at certain numbers coming out of places like Paterson, there has been a spike since Memorial Day and some of the gun violence shooting victims that places like the Paterson Healing Collective have responded to so far.

So, unfortunately, although there has been a statewide drop in recent years, there has been an uptick since Memorial Day that a lot of organizations are seeing.

But they have certainly taken preventative measures to address, prevent that as the summer has continued.

We know a lot of events and programs and initiatives start really the families of victims who have suffered from gun violence.

So what are some of the challenges?

What are you hearing from families?

I know that through your reporting you were able to speak to some of these families.

Right now.

You know, one of the biggest challenges after somebody passes away from gun violence is the grief that families feel.

The fact that a lot of this grief is not just in the moment that it happens, but that it really never goes away.

A lot of advocates stress to me the fact that grief is an ongoing process, a process that really changes throughout the course of somebody's lifetime.

There have been efforts to address some of that through places like, once again, the Paterson Healing Collective, The Sisterhood Squad.

Essentially, that's a bereavement group for mothers who have lost a child to gun violence.

But in addition to that, the biggest challenge that a lot of victims face is kind of like a lot of people move on with their lives if they maybe knew the person in some way or another.

But the direct family member's lives are completely altered.

And that lack of understanding or that lack of connection sometimes could really be a burden for direct, direct victim family members.

So it's a tough time for family members, but also for community members as well.

You know, you can't always control how hot it is, but there are events and programs and groups, as you mentioned, that are trying to prevent violence.

Bobby Brier thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you, Raven.