The John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center (JohnJayREC) received a research grant in September 2022 from the National Institute of Justice to support the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Violence Intervention and Prevention initiative (CVIPI).
From 2022 to 2026, researchers from JohnJayREC evaluated the Bronx Osborne Gun Accountability and Prevention (BOGAP) program in New York City (formerly known as the Bronx-Osborne Gun Avoidance Program).
The Osborne Association and the Office of the Bronx District Attorney created the program to combine accountability and individualized support for defendants under age 40 and facing their first firearm-related charges. Participants accepted guilty pleas for gun-related charges and avoided felony convictions by enrolling in BOGAP. They were helped to succeed in paid employment and to avoid violence by adopting alternative strategies for managing interpersonal conflicts.
Using a quasi-experimental design, the evaluation measured changes in participant attitudes, compared recidivism among participants and similar non-participants, and documented the program’s implementation of efforts to help participants put down their guns and avoid the long-term negative effects of felony conviction and possible incarceration. The evaluation answered key research questions using surveys, interviews, and administrative data analyses.
The Osborne Association is a nonprofit organization in New York City that transforms the lives of clients, the communities they work in, and the criminal justice system itself. By strengthening families, helping people build economic stability, and promoting health and healing, Osborne programs help communities become collaborative and inclusive spaces. The Osborne Association received a complementary CVIPI grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to expand the BOGAP program to serve additional clients over the grant period, but the new federal administration canceled the funding in 2025.
Associate U.S. Attorney General Vanita Gupta on Community Violence Interventions (CVI)
Products
Tomberg, Kathleen A., Rebecca Balletto, Gina Moreno, Sheyla A. Delgado, Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, Patricia Cobar and Jeffrey A. Butts (forthcoming, 2026). Responding to Firearm Possession Charges in New York City: Initial Findings from the Multimethod Evaluation of the Bronx Osborne Gun Accountability and Prevention Program (BOGAP). New York, NY: Research and Evaluation Center, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Funding
Evaluation: $786,000 John Jay College
Program: $2M Osborne Association
Staff
Kathleen Tomberg (Project Director), Jeffrey Butts (PI), Rebecca Balletto, Patricia Cobar, Sheyla Delgado, Gina Moreno, and Rhoda Ramdeen. Alessandra Early and Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill (affiliated scholars).
Project Period
2022-2026