NCJ Number
207525
Date Published
August 2004
Length
30 pages
Annotation
This monograph describes promising practices and strategies developed by community prosecutors to counter street-level drug dealing and prostitution in Kalamazoo County (Kalamazoo), MI; Multnomah County (Portland), OR; Marion County (Indianapolis), IN, and Denver, CO.
Abstract
A review of community conditions where street-level drug dealing and prostitution thrive can provide some clues for the development of strategies designed to change those conditions and thus discourage these crimes. In Kalamazoo, for example, community prosecutors worked with a local neighborhood to reclaim a street that had become an open-air drug market. Residents petitioned the city to eliminate street parking in the neighborhood, thereby deterring loitering and quick stops for drug buys. The community prosecutor aggressively pursued cases developed by an undercover officer who initiated drug buys in the neighborhood; and community prosecutors classified a drug house as a public nuisance and had it boarded up. Another strategy, which was adopted in Portland, has been to enact local trespass exclusion ordinances, which exclude persons who have been arrested for and/or convicted of prostitution or drug dealing from re-entering those geographic areas where they committed their offenses, under the threat of arrest for criminal trespass. Another strategy for countering prostitution has been Indianapolis' development of a prosecutorial diversion program for first-time "johns" who patronize prostitutes. In exchange for having their cases dismissed with prejudice, the "johns" are required to report to a designated community center on a specific Saturday to be tested for syphilis; to receive information about the impact of their behavior on themselves, the neighborhood, and their families; and to perform community service. The strategies that have been most effective in countering street-level drug dealing and prostitution have involved partnerships between a variety of government agencies and community-based groups, the use of multifaceted methods for addressing environmental and behavioral issues, and the involvement of the community in the strategies and proposed long-term solutions. 4 resources and 5 recommended publications