Focused Deterrence and the Prevention of Violent Gun Injuries: Practice, Theoretical Principles, and Scientific Evidence

Abstract

Focused deterrence strategies are a relatively new addition to a growing portfolio of evidence-based violent gun injury prevention practices available to policy makers and practitioners. These strategies seek to change offender behavior by understanding the underlying violence-producing dynamics and conditions that sustain recurring violent gun injury problems and by implementing a blended strategy of law enforcement, community mobilization, and social service actions. Consistent with documented public health practice, the focused deterrence approach identifies underlying risk factors and causes of recurring violent gun injury problems, develops tailored responses to these underlying conditions, and measures the impact of implemented interventions. This article reviews the practice, theoretical principles, and evaluation evidence on focused deterrence strategies. Although more rigorous randomized studies are needed, the available empirical evidence suggests that these strategies generate noteworthy gun violence reduction impacts and should be part of a broader portfolio of violence prevention strategies available to policy makers and practitioners.

Do Stop, Question, and Frisk Practices Deter Crime?

“…Moreover, evidence suggests that crime prevention can be achieved without resorting to an unrestricted SQF policy. A generation of studies has now shown that when police focus efforts on high-crime places or people, they can achieve crime-prevention gains (Braga and Weisburd, 2015;Kennedy, 1996;Sherman, 2007). In particular, consistent experimental evidence shows that police focusing on hot spots of crime will yield crime reductions (Braga et al, 2014;Sherman and Weisburd, 1995).…”

Handgun carrying among White youth increasing in the United States: New evidence from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2002–2013

“…For instance, in an investigation of the life-course factors that influence gun carrying among young urban males, Lizotte, Krohn, Howell, Tobin, and Howard (2000) found that membership in a gang was a major factor for handgun carrying during early adolescence, while drug dealing, drug use, and peers effects had stronger effect among older adolescents. Therefore, focused deterrence (Braga & Weisburd, 2015) around gang-involved youth and adolescent drug abuse may prove useful. Boston's Operation Ceasefire program observed a significant reduction in gun violence by holding all members of a gang culpable if one member used a handgun illegally (Braga & Pierce, 2005).…”

Handgun Carrying Among Youth in the United States

“…Other reviews of parent training interventions have identified similar beneficial effects (e.g., Piquero, Farrington, Welsh, Tremblay, & Jennings, 2009 Although handgun carrying is embedded into a net of externalizing behavior liability, research has begun to establish that there are more direct interventions that can reduce gun violence. For example, key high-risk individuals, usually gang members, are told directly that they are under intense scrutiny and will be held accountable though a variety of sanctions for which they are vulnerable to such as conditions of probation and parole or ongoing investigations involving members of the gang (Braga & Weisburd, 2015). The theoretical mechanism behind the effectiveness of these approaches is focused deterrence (Braga, 2012;Braga & Weisburd, 2015).…”