Reducing Homicide through a “Lever‐Pulling” Strategy

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

“…Evaluations of focused deterrence strategies targeting gangs and criminally active groups reported large statistically significant reductions in violent crime. These results reported the following: a 63% reduction in youth homicides in Boston (9), a 44% reduction in gun assault incidents in Lowell (12), a 42% reduction in gun homicides in Stockton (3), a 35% reduction in homicides of criminally active group members in Cincinnati (21), a 34% reduction in total homicides in Indianapolis (44), and noteworthy short-term reductions in violent crime in Los Angeles (60).…”

“…Enforcement actions, such as the arrest and prosecution of 23 members of the highly violent Intervale Posse gang, served as credible examples of the increased risks of engaging in gun violence in subsequent communication to other Boston gangs (37). Similarly, McGarrell et al (44) reported that the Indianapolis Violence Reduction Partnership working group exploited the arrest and prosecution of 16 key members of the notorious Brightwood gang to accomplish its objective of communicating a zero tolerance for violence message to other gang members in the city. In essence, these strategies attempt to establish a deterrence regime by diffusing among a very particular audience knowledge of enhanced sanction risks associated with specific violent gun behaviors.…”

“…There have been subsequent replications of the Boston "pulling levers" focused deterrence strategy, such as US Department of Justice-sponsored research and development exercises in Los Angeles, California (60), and Indianapolis, Indiana (44), which centered on preventing serious violence by gangs and criminally active groups. Consistent with the problem-oriented policing approach, the approaches taken by agencies in Los Angeles and Indianapolis were tailored to fit their cities' violence problems and operating environments.…”

The Evidence-Based Policing Matrix

“…These might involve, as Weisburd and Eck (2004) describe, the coordination of multiple agencies that handle different aspects of a particular problem, and they target specific mechanisms that produce crime. Specific programs might include using nuisance abatement laws to reduce drug dealing on a street block (e.g., Mazerolle et al 2000); using specific prosecution schemes against those who are caught selling drugs and armed with a weapon (e.g., Abrahamse et al 1991); employing the "pulling levers" approach against gang activity, which involves a combination of specific deterrencerelated interventions (see Braga et al 2001Braga et al , 2008McGarrell et al 2006); or targeting specific risk factors for juvenile crime (e.g. Weisburd et al 2008a).…”

Criminal Deterrence: A Review of the Literature

“…Prominent evaluations of pulling-levers interventions include research carried out in Richmond, VA (Raphael and Ludwig 2003), Indianapolis (McGarrell et al 2006), Chicago (Papachristos, Meares, and Fagan 2007), Stockton, CA (Braga 2008b), Lowell, MA (Braga et al 2008), High Point, NC (Corsaro et al 2012), Nashville , Cincinnati (Engel, Corsaro, and Tillyer 2010), and Rockford, IL (Corsaro, Brunson, and McGarrell 2010). Researchers have also evaluated a multicity pulling-levers strategy known as Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which enlisted the cooperation of federal prosecutors to crack down on gun violence.…”