Problem Solving and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of the Boston Gun Project

Posted: 11 May 2005 Last revised: 10 Aug 2011

See all articles by Anne Morrison Piehl

Anne Morrison Piehl

Rutgers University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

David M. Kennedy

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Anthony A. Braga

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS); Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - School of Criminal Justice

Date Written: 2000

Abstract

The Boston Gun Project is a problem-solving policing initiative aimed at reducing homicide victimization among young people in the city of Boston. It represented an innovative partnership between researchers and practitioners to assess the city's youth homicide problem and implement an intervention intended to have powerful impacts in the near term. In early 1996, a working group representing a variety of law enforcement and social service agencies implemented an intervention that strategically responded to gang violence, focused enforcement efforts on gun trafficking, and emphasized communication of the strategy to generate deterrence. The intervention is associated with a 60% decline in youth homicide victimization (i.e., two fewer victims per month). There are smaller declines in other measures of violence. The decline in youth homicide is sharp and occurs coincident with the introduction of the intervention. Competing hypotheses appear unable to account for the decline.

Suggested Citation

Piehl, Anne Morrison and Kennedy, David M. and Braga, Anthony A., Problem Solving and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of the Boston Gun Project (2000). American Law and Economics Review, Vol. 2, pp. 58-106, 2000, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=713108

Anne Morrison Piehl (Contact Author)

Rutgers University - Department of Economics ( email )

New Brunswick, NJ 08901
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

David M. Kennedy

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Anthony A. Braga

Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States
617-496-9835 (Phone)

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - School of Criminal Justice ( email )

123 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102-309
United States

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