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Street Violence Crime Reduction Strategies: a Review of the Evidence

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Street Violence Crime Reduction Strategies: a Review of the Evidence Street Violence Crime Reduction Strategies: A Review of the Evidence February 2020 Hannah D. McManus, M.S. Robin S. Engel, Ph.D. Jennifer Calnon Cherkauskas, Ph.D. Sarah C. Light, M.S. Amanda M. Shoulberg, M.A. University of Cincinnati This research was supported through a grant provided by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) to establish the International Association of Chief of Police (IACP) / University of Cincinnati (UC) Center for Police Research and Policy. The findings and recommendations presented within this report are from the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official positions or opinions of the LJAF or IACP. Please direct all correspondence regarding this report to Dr. Robin Engel, Director, IACP/UC Center for Police Research and Policy, University of Cincinnati, 600 Teachers-Dyer Complex, 2610 McMicken Circle, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0632; 513.556.5849; [email protected]. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. I I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 II. POLICE-LED VIOLENCE REDUCTION INTERVENTIONS........................................... 3 A. Offender-Focused Approaches for Violence Reduction ........................................................ 3 1. Traditional Gang Enforcement ........................................................................................... 3 2. Firearm Crackdowns ........................................................................................................... 6 3. Focused Deterrence ............................................................................................................. 7 4. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) .................................................................................. 12 5. Custom Notifications ........................................................................................................ 15 6. Stop, Question, and Frisk (SQF) ....................................................................................... 17 B. Place-Based Approaches for Violence Reduction ............................................................... 20 1. Hot Spots Policing ............................................................................................................ 21 2. Place-Based Investigations ............................................................................................... 25 C. Community-Based Approaches for Violence Reduction ..................................................... 27 1. Community-Oriented Policing .......................................................................................... 28 2. Broken Windows Policing ................................................................................................ 31 3. Procedural Justice Policing ............................................................................................... 33 III. COMMUNITY-LED, PUBLIC HEALTH VIOLENCE PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS .............................................................................................................. 35 1. Communities that Care (CTC) .......................................................................................... 37 2. Youth Violence Prevention Centers (YVPC) ................................................................... 39 3. Cure Violence ................................................................................................................... 41 4. PROSPER ......................................................................................................................... 43 5. Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs.............................................................. 44 6. OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model ................................................................................ 46 IV. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................... 51 A. Summary Tables .................................................................................................................. 51 B. Elements of Effective Violence Reduction Initiatives ......................................................... 54 C. Future Research ................................................................................................................... 57 V. APPENDIX A. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE .......................................................... 59 VI. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 63 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Despite evidence of gradually declining rates of violent crime over the last several decades, violence continues to pose a serious problem for many urban communities (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2018). Indeed, recent trends in violent crime within the United States suggest violence is a chronic problem, producing substantial costs to communities and individuals, and requiring immediate response from a coalition of stakeholders. As such, finding effective interventions to target violence is essential for restoring communities and enhancing public health and safety. This literature review examines the available empirical evidence on a variety of police-led violence reduction strategies (offender-focused, place-based, and community- based), as well as community-led, public health-based violence prevention interventions. The purpose of this review is to summarize for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers the state of the evidence regarding the effectiveness of various approaches to reduce violence, highlight implications for practice (see Appendix A) and identify the remaining gaps in this knowledge needing to be addressed by future research. Police –Led Violence Reduction Interventions Offender-Focused Approaches for Violence Reduction Offender-focused approaches for violence reduction concentrate police resources on a relatively small number of high-risk, chronic offenders to address violent crime. This review discusses six different offender-focused policing approaches, including traditional gang enforcement, firearm crackdowns, focused deterrence, project safe neighborhoods, custom notifications, and stop, question, and frisk. Traditional gang enforcement strategies rely on suppression, social control, and legal sanctions to reduce gang violence (Decker & Curry, 2007). These approaches are based upon deterrence theory, whereby criminal behavior is presumed to decrease when gang members’ perceptions of the swiftness, certainty and severity of punishment for that behavior are increased (Klein & Maxson, 2006). The limited empirical evidence that exists does not support traditional suppression-only enforcement as an effective approach for reducing gang violence over the short or long term; in fact, it may actually strengthen gang cohesion and exacerbate gang-related criminal activity (Decker & Curry, 2000). Still, some scholars suggest that specialized units could improve police effectiveness in gang-related violence reduction by transitioning police response from a general deterrence orientation to a strategic problem-oriented approach (Braga, 2015). Furthermore, several argue that suppression can be one element of an effective comprehensive gang enforcement strategy. However, prevention and intervention elements addressing factors that contribute to gang membership and criminal activity must be incorporated within the strategy as well (Decker, 2008). Police agencies often initiate aggressive enforcement designed to crackdown on violent offenders. One of the most well-known violent offender-focused crackdowns was Project Exile – a collaborative gun violence reduction effort that emphasized enhancing risks associated with illegal gun carrying by increasing federal prosecution of offenders, and thus enhancing i sentences, for illegal gun possession. In addition to federal prosecution, Project Exile prioritized a public education campaign – advertised in print and electronic media – designed to reinforce deterrence messages pertaining to the illegal possession and use of firearms (McGarrell et al., 2013b). Although anecdotally declared a success, the limited empirical evaluation provides a mixed narrative of the efficacy of this strategy. It appears firearms crackdowns could produce meaningful declines in violent crime; however, additional research is needed before conclusions can be made. Focused deterrence is an offender-focused violence reduction strategy born from the problem- oriented policing movement. Designed to alter offender behavior through a multi-faceted approach involving law enforcement, social service, and community-based action, focused deterrence initiatives are consistently found to be effective in reducing serious violent crime committed by gangs/criminally active groups, violence generated by street-level drug markets, and violent crimes committed by highly active individual offenders. Although not without limitations, the existing empirical evidence strongly suggests the positive short-term impacts of focused deterrence strategies on violent crime, leading researchers to encourage the inclusion of focused deterrence in the portfolio of violence reduction strategies. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) represents a substantial investment by the U.S. Department of Justice to address gun violence at the local level. Built upon other promising
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