Project Safe Neighborhoods - A National Program to Reduce Gun Crime: Final Project Report

• NCJ Number: 226686
• Author(s): Edmund F McGarrell Ph.D.; Natalie Kroovand Hipple Ph.D.; Nicholas Corsaro Ph.D.; Timothy S. Bynum Ph.D.; Heather Perez M.A.; Carol A. Zimmermann Ph.D.; Melissa Garmo M.S.
• Date Published: February 2009
• Length: 358 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2002-GP-CX-1003
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This report presents findings on the development and implementation of the various components of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a major initiative of the U.S. Justice Department in all 94 U.S. Attorney districts nationwide in an effort to reduce gun violence at the local level.

Abstract

Virtually every PSN task force was able to establish partnerships with other agencies in implementing PSN. The most common partnerships were with other law enforcement agencies at the Federal, State, and local levels, as well as with other criminal justice agencies. Seventy-five percent of task forces reported partnerships with community leaders and organizations beyond the criminal justice sector. Seventy to 80 percent of the PSN task forces and research partners reported some degree of integration of research and strategic planning processes. Almost all of the task forces conducted some type of local assessment of gun crime and used multiple data sources. The most common barrier to research integration was the lack of crime data, which was due primarily to the inability to access timely and electronic crime data. This was particularly the case for data specific to gun crime. Federal prosecution increased significantly in a number of PSN task forces; however, many PSN task forces experienced either no change or minimal increases, despite the prioritizing of gun crimes and the investment of Federal resources. The most common strategies used by PSN task forces were increased Federal prosecution; joint Federal-local prosecution case screening; direct police patrol; chronic violent offender programs; street level firearms enforcement teams; offender notification meetings; reentry programs; and firearms supply-side interventions. The most common prevention strategies included neighborhood development, education, and school-based prevention programs. In every model, PSN target cities experienced a decline in violent crime compared to nontarget cities. Recommendations for improving PSN are presented. This report also contains three case studies that have not been published or externally reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice. 38 tables, 13 figures, approximately 100 references, and 5 appendixes with supplementary data and information