. >> thompson: devone boggan is a mentor for at-risk youth who previously ran a successful program in oakland, 12 miles away. nine years ago, the city of richmond, desperate to tackle crime, recruited boggan to launch the program, which began as street outreach, a tactic used with success in other cities. at the time, richmond's homicide rate was at a record high. >> try to imagine growing up in a war zone, bullets flying. >> thompson: richmond police believed that most of the shootings could be blamed on just a couple dozen young men. >> if gun violence in this city was to decrease in any kind of way, that first would have to happen because these young men decided that it would decrease. why not create a different kind of mechanism to come at these guys from a different angle? >> thompson: when you pay them this stipend, are you just, in a sense, rewarding bad behavior? >> every bit of the stipend that they receive is tied to an accomplishment associated with their life map. now, if the question is, do they deserve it?, that's debatable. why should these young men get that? >> thomps