Project Safe Neighborhoods Case Study Report: Middle District of North Carolina (Case Study 11)

• NCJ Number: 241729
• Author(s): Natalie Kroovand Hipple, Ph.D.; James M. Frabutt, Ph.D.; Nicholas Corsaro, M.A.; Edmund F. McGarrell, Ph.D.; M.J. Gathings, Ph.D.
• Date Published: September 2007
• Length: 47 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2002-GP-CX-1003
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation; Program/Project Description
• Award: PSN Academy: Proposal to Provide Technical Assistance

Annotation

This case study of the federally supported Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) in the Middle District of North Carolina focuses on the characteristics and outcomes of this district's efforts to reduce gun violence under the PSN goals and strategies.

Abstract

The Middle District of North Carolina is one of three Federal districts in the State. The U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) of the district worked with State and local officials to develop PSN task forces in the cities of Durham, Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, and Salisbury. The local research partner provided gun-crime data for a number of offenses across all five cities. The case study focused on the impact of the PSN initiative on total gun crimes (homicides with a firearm, robberies with a firearm, and aggravated assaults with a firearm) in three of the five cities: Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem). The study found that total gun crime declined following the implementation of PSN. In Greensboro and Winston-Salem, the decline was statistically significant. Salisbury also experienced a decline in gun crime, although it was not statistically significant. This study concludes that these results are "very encouraging." The district used a "lever pulling" strategy that included both a deterrence-based focus and an attempt to develop prevention and intervention components aimed at linking youth to prosocial environments and providing both youthful and adult offenders access to services and resources. Offender notification or "call-in" meetings were heavily used. There was a significant increase in Federal gun-crime prosecutions in order to incapacitate violent chronic offenders and increase the credibility of the deterrent message. Police-probation home visits were another common strategy; home visits that linked police and faith leaders with at-risk youth were also used. Joint Federal-local gun case reviews were conducted by several of the task forces. 2 figures, 4 tables, and 27 references