NCJ Number
213602
Date Published
November 2004
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This is the final report on Phase II of the three phases of Wyoming's Project Guardian, which is the title for the State's effort to counter gun violence under the general strategy of the U.S. Justice Department's Project Safe Neighborhoods.
Abstract
Phase I involved the onsite collection of law enforcement data on the illegal use of firearms for the years 2000-2002. Phase II's research goal was to provide the U.S. Attorneys Office for Wyoming and the State's criminal justice community with a better understanding of how gun offenses proceeded through the courts in the State. A secondary objective of Phase II was to obtain data on juveniles' use of firearms in crimes committed on school property. The study found that 52 of the 63 cases sampled in Phase I resulted in formal charges being brought against the offender. Eighty-one percent of the offenders were male. A total of 27 cases (43 percent) were adjudicated in State district courts, where 96.3 percent of the defendants were charged with a felony. A total of 21 cases (33 percent) were adjudicated in State circuit courts, where 48 percent of the defendants were arrested on charges in which the most serious offense was a felony. Three cases were tried in a Federal court; three cases were processed in juvenile courts; and two cases were resolved in municipal courts. Five gun incidents on school grounds were reported; the guns involved were a squirt gun, mock gun, or BB gun. 5 figures, 2 tables, and 3 references