To evaluate the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP), an initiative to improve the safety of public housing developments, researchers estimated the counterfactual (no intervention) by selecting a set of comparison housing developments not involved in the initiative. The study relied on the statistical method known as propensity score analysis (PSA) to select the comparison group.
Douglas Evans and Anthony Vega In Denormalizing Violence: A Series of Reports From the John Jay College Evaluation of Cure Violence Programs in New York City Introduction Crime has been decreasing since the mid-1990s, but violence is still a serious concern in many neighborhoods throughout the United States. Victims of violence often suffer psychological trauma as well as physical injuries, and research suggests the effects do not end there. Nearly half of all victims experience subsequent violent victimization. The criminal justice system may respond effectively to incidents of violence, but preventing violence and addressing the needs and ongoing risks of…
The John Jay Research and Evaluation Center hosts a conference on October 26, 2017 about the Cure Violence approach to community safety.
NY1 News reports on JohnJayREC’s recent study about the effects of Cure Violence. Includes a short comment from Jeffrey Butts.
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.
Promising evidence that the public health approach to violence reduction championed by Cure Violence may be capable of creating safe and healthy communities.
New York City neighborhoods operating Cure Violence programs show stronger declines in violence-endorsing attitudes than do areas without Cure Violence programs.
Data infrastructures for tracking youth violence in the United States do not provide a clear view of neighborhood-level change, but the most effective strategies for dealing with youth violence inevitably focus on small areas like neighborhoods. This makes it essential to measure the effects of violence prevention efforts at the neighborhood level as well.
While one of the strengths of OJJDP’s CBVP model was its emphasis on adaptation to local context and needs, the variation across program sites posed serious challenges for the evaluation and made it impossible to assess and compare outcomes in each city.
Discussion at a community roundtable organized by the National Academies of Sciences. Also watch the session following the presentations in which Jeffrey Butts and Daniel Webster respond to audience questions. Read more about the products of the evaluation.
This study suggests that the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention provides meaningful assistance to cities. The organizational networks involved in the National Forum appear to be moving in positive directions and the individuals involved in those networks report high levels of confidence that they are making a difference.
Data Source: Violent crimes reported to the Uniform Crime Reports program, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, as prepared by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data and disseminated by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, DC (www.ucrdatatool.gov) for 1985-2012 as well as data obtained directly from FBI reports for 2013, 2014 and 2015 (preliminary 6-month 2015 figures weighted to represent 12 months). Note: Data presented for all large cities (over 500,000) that reported data nearly consistently to the FBI from 1985 through 2015. Cities omitted due to inconsistent reporting include Chicago, Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC), and Honolulu.