This article from the January 2024 issue of the Justice Matters Newsletter focuses on stories about violence reduction through community intervention.
This issue of the Justice Matters Newsletter discusses violence reduction through community intervention by focusing on the Bronx-Osborne Gun Avoidance and Prevention Project (BOGAP). BOGAP provides a violence intervention and prevention program for people ages 16 to 30 with a first-time felony charge of loaded-gun possession. After successfully completing the one-year program, the felony charge is reduced to a misdemeanor. Maurice De Frietas, BOGAP Program Manager, provides information about BOGAP’s approach and accomplishments. BOGAP is the result of a four-year collaboration between the Osborne Association, a nonprofit organization working to address the impacts of the criminal justice system in New York, and the Bronx District Attorney’s (DA) Office, which refers eligible participants to the program. The program received funding through the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) as part of the FY 2022 Office of Justice Programs Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) , which is allowing it to double its size and continue its mission to reduce and prevent gun violence by transforming attitudes and building job skills.