Video | “Targeting Retaliation”

This video, Targeting Retaliation, by visual journalist Michael Karas of NorthJersey.com and The Record, offers a powerful real-world case study for teaching social disorganization theory. The documentary follows the Paterson Healing Collective, an anti-violence organization working to reduce retaliatory shootings in Paterson, NJ. Paterson is a city marked by economic hardship, residential instability, and strained community institutions. I have used the film to show how social disorganization creates the conditions for violence, while also highlighting how community-based interventions attempt to restore informal social control and collective efficacy. It brings theory to life by connecting structural disadvantage with lived experiences and grassroots solutions.