Reducing Violence Without Police: a Review of Research Evidence
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Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence November 2020 Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence Submitted to Arnold Ventures by the John Jay College Research Advisory Group on Preventing and Reducing Community Violence RESEARCH AND JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINALEVALUATION JUSTICE / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK CENTER RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CENTER PAGE 1 Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence November 2020 Submitted to Arnold Ventures by the John Jay College Research Advisory Group on Preventing and Reducing Community Violence Members of the John Jay College Research Advisory Group on Preventing and Reducing Community Violence Charles Branas Erin M. Kerrison Alex R. Piquero Mailman School of Public Health School of Social Welfare Department of Sociology Columbia University University of California, Berkeley University of Miami Shani Buggs Tracey Meares Joseph Richardson, Jr. Violence Prevention Research Program School of Law Department of African American Studies University of California Davis Yale University University of Maryland Andrew V. Papachristos Jeffrey A. Butts Caterina Gouvis Roman Department Sociology John Jay College of Criminal Justice Department of Criminal Justice and Institute for Policy Research City University of New York Temple University Northwestern University Anna Harvey John Pfaff Daniel Webster Department of Politics School of Law Bloomberg School of Public Health and Public Safety Lab Fordham University Johns Hopkins University New York University With staff from the Research and Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York: Nicole Alexander, Communications Specialist Yuchen Hou, Graduate Research Assistant Edda Fransdottir, Research Associate Victoria Wang, Graduate Research Assistant William Wical, Graduate Research Assistant Funding This report is the product of a collaborative effort supported by Arnold entures.V The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Arnold Ventures or its staff. Acknowledgments The authors appreciate the contributions of the entire criminal justice team at Arnold Ventures, especially those who conceived the project plan, contributed to its design, or read and commented on earlier drafts: Jordan Costa, Jocelyn Fontaine, Walter Katz, Nicola Smith-Kea, Jeremy Travis, and Asheley Van Ness. Recommended Citation John Jay College Research Advisory Group on Preventing and Reducing Community Violence (2020). Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence. New York, NY: Research and Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. Research and Evaluation Center www.JohnJayREC.nyc John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York 524 West 58th Street, Suite 605BMW New York, NY 10019 JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CENTER PAGE 2i Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence Executive Summary Arnold Ventures asked the Research and Evaluation Center individual change, and for that reason are difficult to at John Jay College of Criminal Justice to review and evaluate and the research literature to back them up is summarize research on policies and programs known to inevitably less rigorous and less prominent. reduce community violence without relying on police. To accomplish this goal, the Research and Evaluation Center With these goals in mind, the members of the research assembled a diverse group of academic consultants group worked collaboratively to identify, translate, and across the fields of criminology, social and behavioral summarize evidence for strategies to reduce violence sciences, public health, epidemiology, law, and public without police. To identify the most important and policy. The group met several times during the summer potentially effective strategies, the research group of 2020 to produce an accessible synthesis of research placed a high value on programs designed with a clear evidence. Key questions were: theoretical rationale and outcomes at specific levels—i.e. individuals, families, neighborhoods (including blocks Can communities ensure the health and security of and street segments), or larger geopolitical boundaries, • residents without depending on law enforcement, including cities and counties. Recognizing that evaluation What is the strongest research evidence to aid in the research tends to favor programs aimed at individual • selection of violence-reduction strategies, behaviors, the group made an effort to include strategies focused on community-level change with the potential to How can community leaders and funding organizations achieve durable, scalable effects. • like Arnold Ventures draw upon existing evidence while building even better evidence, and The research advisory group also focused on the time frame for intervention. Some effective methods for • How can funding organizations use this report to preventing violence take years to reach their maximum elevate discussions about violence, improve outcomes effect. Some well-known strategies generate outcomes in in communities affected by violence, and help local a year or two, but that doesn’t make them the best ideas. and national partners to identify evidence-based The research advisory group resisted a systematic bias interventions that are ready to be scaled. favoring short-term interventions. The consultants used a broad lens to define community The group identified seven evidence-backed strategies: violence as the type of interpersonal violence that occurs in public places, but they considered the personal and Improve the Physical Environment structural antecedents of violence as well. By identifying Place-based interventions that are structural, scalable, the precursors of violence and emphasizing both their and sustainable have been shown to reduce violence and practical salience and theoretical relevance, the group many strategies are economically viable. Increasing the sought to identify the most useful evidence for preventing prevalence of green space in a neighborhood, improving and reducing community violence. the quality of neighborhood buildings and housing, and creating public spaces with ample lighting suitable for This report represents the consultants’ best advice for pedestrian traffic can be cost-effective ways of decreasing funding organizations and community leaders, but it is community violence. not a technical synthesis of research or a meta-analysis of the most rigorous studies. (There are sources for Strengthen Anti-Violence Social Norms and Peer that information already, see CrimeSolutions.gov, a site Relationships hosted for the U.S. Department of Justice.) This report Programs such as Cure Violence and Advance Peace view summarizes the collective judgment of an experienced violence as a consequence of social norms spread by group of researchers who were free to consider all peer networks and social relationships. Outreach workers, evidence, unconstrained by the conventional priority a key part of these interventions, form supportive and given to randomized controlled trials (RCT). The most confidential relationships with individuals at the highest rigorous studies in the field of community violence are risk of becoming perpetrators or victims of violence, RCTs, but many focus on individual behaviors only, failing connecting them with social resources and working to to account for the full social context giving rise to those shift their behavior and attitudes toward non-violence. behaviors, including social and economic inequities, Evaluations suggest these programs may help reduce institutionalized discrimination, and the racial and class neighborhood violence. biases of the justice system itself. Engage and Support Youth To synthesize evidence in an inclusive manner, one Young people, especially young males, account for a must be aware of social context and prioritize solutions disproportionate amount of community violence. Any that help to address structural impediments while still effort to reduce violence must involve a special focus on providing immediate interventions to reduce violence. youth. Strategies that add structure and opportunities for Unless research evidence is considered in this context, youth have been shown to decrease their involvement potentially effective strategies may be overlooked simply in violent crime. Youth employment, job mentorship because they target community-level change rather than and training, educational supports, and behavioral JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CENTER PAGE 3ii Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence interventions can improve youth outcomes and reduce negative income shocks are less inclined to behave violence. Some of these strategies require relatively violently when they receive timely financial assistance. costly individualized therapeutic interventions, but others focused on work and school have been associated with Reduce the Harmful Effects of the Justice Process cost-efficient reductions in violence. The judicial process must be viewed as legitimate for community members to engage effectively with law Reduce Substance Abuse enforcement in reducing violence. Research suggests Numerous studies