Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy
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Gangs, Guns, & Urban Violence
The Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management has been instrumental in collaborating with a number of jurisdictions in experimenting with new problem-solving frameworks to prevent crime. To-date most of these projects have focused on reducing gang and group-involved violence.
Pioneered in Boston these new initiatives have followed a core set of activities to reduce violence. These activities have included a close partnership between researchers and practitioners, and the convening of an interagency working group representing a wide range of criminal justice and social service capabilities.
The "pulling levers"-focused deterrence strategy has been a key component of these new prevention strategies. Jurisdictions experimenting with these new strategic approaches have shown promising results in the reduction of violence.
Read more about our strategic crime prevention projects, including StreetSafe Boston, Operation Ceasefire: Boston Gun Project, and Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) below and at left.
Articles and Publications
- Papachristos, Andrew V., Anthony A. Braga, and David M. Hureau “Social Networks and the Risk of Gunshot Injury” Journal of Urban Health (2012).
- Braga, Anthony A., Andrew V. Papachristos, and David M. Hureau “The Effects of Hot Spots Policing on Crime: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” Justice Quarterly (2012).
- Welsh, Brandon C., Anthony A. Braga, and Christopher J. Sullivan “Serious Youth Violence and Innovative Prevention: On the Emerging Link between Public Health and Criminology” Justice Quarterly (2012).
- Welsh, Brandon C., Anthony A. Braga, and Meghan E. Peel “Can ‘Disciplined Passion’ Overcome the Cynical View? An Empirical Inquiry of Evaluator Influence on Police Crime Prevention Program
Outcomes” Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8 (4) (2012). - Braga, Anthony A., Garen J. Wintemute, Glenn L. Pierce, Philip J. Cook, and Greg Ridgeway “Interpreting the Empirical Evidence on Illegal Gun Market Dynamics” Journal of Urban Health, 89 (5): 779 – 793 (2012).
- Braga, Anthony A. and David L. Weisburd “The Effects of Focused Deterrence Strategies on Crime: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Evidence” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 49 (3): 323 – 358 (2012).
- Cook, Philip J., Mallory O’Brien, Anthony A. Braga, and Jens Ludwig “Lessons from a Partially Controlled Field Trial” Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8 (3): 271 – 287 (2012).
- Braga, Anthony A. “Getting Deterrence Right? Evaluation Evidence and Complementary Crime Control Mechanisms” Criminology & Public Policy, 11 (2): 201 – 210 (2012).
For a detailed listing, see Published Findings page
In the News
- David Hureau and Christopher Winship quoted in article about StreetSafe Boston by Maria Cramer, "Reaching out on the roiling streets; Workers make progress connecting with city gang members" Boston Globe (December 3, 2010 and October 6, 2010)
- A Small But Powerful Army On Boston’s Most Violent Streets, by Bob Oakes and Lisa Tobin, WBUR (audio clip and story)
- StreetSafe volunteers take to the streets of Boston, by Josh Brogadir, NECN (video clip and story), September 30, 2010.
- An eye-opening ride into the city within the city, by Joseph P. Kahn, The Boston Globe , February 20, 2010
- Violent crime down in Boston, by Maria Cramer, The Boston Globe, November 25, 2009.
- The StreetSafe Question, by Paul Kix, Boston Magazine, August 2009
StreetSafe Boston
StreetSafe Boston (SSB) is an initiative of The Boston Foundation striving to reduce gang related crime throughout the city of Boston. According to SSB, this program’s mission is to “contribute to a reduction of violence in Boston by focusing interventions on approximately 20 of the City’s most active gangs in neighborhoods disproportionately affected by gang violence.”... 
Operation Ceasefire / Boston Gun Project
The Boston Gun Project was a problem-oriented policing initiative expressly aimed at taking on a serious, large-scale crime problem -- homicide victimization among young people in Boston. Like many large cities in the United States, Boston experienced an epidemic of youth homicides ...
Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI)
Justice pilot project that follows the Boston Gun Project's strong emphasis on partnerships, knowledge-driven decisionmaking, and ongoing strategic assessment. The project is spearheaded by U.S. Attorneys and has been implemented in five cities...
Violence Prevention in Baltimore
Baltimore has long suffered from high yearly counts of homicides. During the 1990s, however, Baltimore experienced more than three hundred homicides per year between 1990 and 1997, with a 30-year high peak of 353 homicides in 1993. In 1996 and 1997, Baltimore had the fourth highest homicide rate in the United States among cities with more than 250,000 residents ...
Community Safety Initiative
In most communities, sustainable gains in public safety depend on broader efforts at community development, and community development depends just as heavily on public safety. Recognizing just how closely intertwined these two activities are, the Community Safety Initiative (formerly the Community Security Initiative) has sought to develop partnerships between police and community development corporations (CDCs) in each of several cities around the country in order to develop a broad program for improving the quality of life in neighborhoods. Arising out of a collaboration among the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and the size="2">Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the CSI has offered ...
Community Prosecution
The ideals of prosecutors who support the development of community prosecution, and the practices they are crafting around the country, share three common features: (1) a new mission or definition of the business of prosecution, (2) new tactics that support the business, and (3) new relationships with other justice agencies and community members...
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