Newark Mayor Ras Baraka says that he is glad President Barack Obama visited the Brick City Monday.

The president visited New Jersey to call for breaking the "cycle of incarceration" by making it easier for former inmates to successfully re-enter society.

Mayor Baraka also says programs put forth in his city this year likely helped to stabilize the violent crime rate. Many other cities saw a spike in crime this summer where Newark's numbers remain similar to where they were a year ago.

He says that he and city officials are "still going to work hard to make sure we see a constant dip in that and ultimately we can do that without trying to incarcerate as many people as we possibly can."

There were 93 murders in Newark for 2014.