NCJ Number
221747
Date Published
May 2006
Length
57 pages
Annotation
In an attempt to expand information available for the study of the National Weed and Seed Initiative, this report identifies and categorizes the diverse community problems and solutions cited across the local Weed and Seed sites, explores possible performance measures and data sources for future site assessments, and reanalyzes the local sites’ Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) homicide data using different key dates in the process of site strategy implementation to determine possible effects on crime trends.
Abstract
After conducting a systematic analysis of the problems and solutions identified by local sites (as the focus of their Weed and Seed Strategies), results indicate, that as a whole, the sites share many commonalities in the problems being addressed and the solutions adopted, individually there can be substantial differences in the focus of a site’s strategy. After exploring data resources cited in 100 local sites’ strategy documents as potential information sources for future evaluation studies and performance measures, it was found that many have information resources that could contribute to research on Weed and Seed’s effects on communities. However, there is great variability in both content and reporting capabilities across jurisdictions that has to be considered when designing any national information collection effort. After providing an updated analysis using expanded information from the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Capacity Development Office’s (CCDO’s) administrative records providing additional documentation of the National Weed and Seed Initiative’s impact on crime as indicated by homicide statistics, a pre/post strategy implementation analysis was performed for 100 sites, nearly double the number from a 2004 study. The sites averaged a 1.4 decline in homicides following implementation of their strategies compared to a decrease of only 0.5 homicides for the remainder of their jurisdictions. Further analysis showed that the sites had a very positive effect on crime in their target areas when viewed from the perspective of the trends occurring in the surrounding jurisdictions. The National Weed and Seed Initiative currently consists of 331 local sites. The intent of this research effort supported by the CCDO was to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the common features and differences among Weed and Seed participants and to explore the potential for additional data sources for measuring the sites’ performance and impact. Tables, appendixes A-C, and bibliography