NCJ Number
216323
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 33 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 14,16,20
Date Published
October 2006
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes the features and effects of the Boston Strategy, a strategy to reduce gun violence among youth gangs in Boston, MA.
Abstract
Elements of the Boston Strategy began in the early 1990s and subsequently expanded. In 1990, there were 152 homicides in Boston; in 1999 there were only 31. In 2000 the homicide rate increased to 36 in the city, and in 2005 the number expanded to just over 60. Although an increase has occurred, it is far from the homicide level in 1990. The Boston Strategy began with the Boston Police Department's creation of its Anti-Gang Violence Unit in the spring of 1990. In 1992, the first component of the Boston Strategy was created, Operation Nite Lite, which is still operating. In Operation Nite Lite, probation officers and police officers act as partners in conducting curfew checks that target juvenile and young-adult probationers, who are those most likely to be perpetrators and victims of shootings. A second component of the Boston Strategy was Operation Cease Fire, a gang suppression initiative. Under Operation Cease Fire, the first gang forum was held in May of 1996. Members of 2 youth gangs were brought to a courtroom to meet with 10 partners of the police probation division. The gang members were given the message that the gang violence had to stop or there would be severe consequences. Within 6 weeks of the meeting, 18 of the 36 gang members at that meeting were incarcerated. The gang members locked up then are now being released back into the community. There is evidence that they continue to run gangs from behind the front line of teen kids who operate on the streets. The challenge to address youth gun violence thus remains, while the funding available in the early stages of the Boston strategy has diminished.