John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center

September 14, 2024 JohnJayREC

Reimagining Community Safety

The National League of Cities supported local government leaders in five U.S. cities working to reimagine public safety.

August 1, 2024 JohnJayREC

Ticket Punch: The Consequences of Fare Evasion Enforcement in New York City Subways

Researchers investigated transit fare evasion in New York City subway stations between 2018 and 2023.

March 18, 2024 JohnJayREC

Color Contrast: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in New York City Law Enforcement

Racial differences in police contacts are not de facto evidence of bias, but monitoring could help guard equity.

December 16, 2022 JohnJayREC

Gun Violence Costs NYC $40 Million a Year

More than 70 percent of treatment costs for gunshot wounds in New York are borne by taxpayers.

April 28, 2021 JohnJayREC

The Juvenile Justice Response to Violence

Even during periods of relatively low violence, the incidence of violent behavior by and among young people is a prominent issue. Policymakers and communities always need effective methods of addressing violent acts by youth.

July 17, 2020 JohnJayREC

Reducing Gun Violence in New York City

Causal relationships are difficult to identify in complex and multi-part initiatives, but New York City’s falling rate of gun violence suggests that recent community initiatives may have helped to sustain previous gains.

November 11, 2019 JohnJayREC

Older Adults Responsible for Total Growth in Drug Arrests

The entire increase in drug crime arrests during the past decade was due to growing numbers of arrests involving adults ages 25 and older. Youth under age 18 and even young adults under age 25 were far less likely to be arrested for drug crimes in 2018 than any time in the past two decades.

May 13, 2019 JohnJayREC

It’s About Quality: Private Confinement Facilities in Juvenile Justice

Quality youth justice systems (a) limit the use of confinement to cases where it is objectively necessary, (b) ensure the health and safety of all confined youth, (c) provide effective treatments and developmentally appropriate programming, and (d) continually monitor and evaluate their effectiveness. These goals apply to all forms of secure confinement regardless of financing or organizational configuration.

July 27, 2018 JohnJayREC

Good Questions: Building Evaluation Evidence in a Competitive Policy Environment

Policymakers and practitioners in the justice sector should consider evaluation research as a portfolio of strategic investments in knowledge development. Randomized controlled trials are merely one asset in a broader investment strategy.

May 15, 2018 JohnJayREC

Critical Care: The Important Role of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs

Douglas Evans and Anthony Vega In Denormalizing Violence: A Series of Reports

October 2, 2017 JohnJayREC

Repairing Trust

Young men who express more confidence in law enforcement are less likely to support the use of personal violence to settle disputes and resolve personal conflicts.

October 2, 2017 JohnJayREC

The Effects of Cure Violence in the South Bronx and East New York, Brooklyn

Promising evidence that the public health approach to violence reduction championed by Cure Violence may be capable of creating safe and healthy communities.

August 4, 2015 JohnJayREC

Respondent-Driven Sampling: Evaluating the Effects of the Cure Violence Model with Neighborhood Surveys

by Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill and Jeffrey A. Butts August 2015 Acknowledgements This report

October 14, 2025 JohnJayREC

Young NYC Detainees Sleep in Classrooms, Common Areas Amid Overcrowding, Lawyers Say

”What we never do is reflect back on ourselves to think, ‘Why are we having these problems and what do we do to prevent them from occurring in the future?’” Butts said.

October 10, 2025 JohnJayREC

A Very, Very Expensive Way to Reduce Crime

Jeffrey Butts, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, in New York City, told me, “If you wanted to go after cities that were in trouble and experiencing increases in homicide, for example, you would go to Little Rock…”

John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center

Community Violence Intervention at the Roots (CVI–R)

Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence

Who Pays for Gun Violence? You Do.

Easily Overstated

Gun Violence is not an “Urban” Problem

Positive Outcomes

Young NYC Detainees Sleep in Classrooms, Common Areas Amid Overcrowding, Lawyers Say

A Very, Very Expensive Way to Reduce Crime