What’s the difference between Boston Ceasefire and Chicago-CeaseFire, or focused deterrence and the public health approach? The Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay College is evaluating the Cure Violence model of violence reduction, which is based in Chicago and was formerly known as Chicago-CeaseFire.

Just down the hall from the Research & Evaluation Center, John Jay’s Center for Crime Prevention and Control hosts the National Network for Safe Communities, which promotes the use of focused deterrence models, including the Group Violence Intervention strategy. The focused deterrence strategy began in Boston as operation Ceasefire and is now being implemented by the New York City police department under the name Ceasefire.

These evolving and competing brand names can lead to considerable confusion among practitioners and policymakers. To assist those seeking clarification about the varying violence reduction strategies, the Research & Evaluation Center described them in our 2014 monograph, Denormalizing Violence.

For readers who do not have time to peruse a 25-page report, we also offer this simple one-page summary of both models.