Research indicates that effective strategies provide services and supports to those at the highest risk for violence, coupled with swift and certain sanctions if violent conduct continues. Leaders should aim to engage key high-risk individuals and groups with a balanced set of potential rewards and punishments.
DOJ has resources to help jurisdictions engage high-risk populations, offer supports and services, and deploy targeted enforcement actions when necessary. Key resources are identified below, followed by links to additional resources. These same resources are also listed for Action 5, as DOJ resources are not easily divided into people- and place-based approaches.
Key Resources
Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative
The Community-Based Violence Intervention (CVI) and Prevention Initiative provides funding to support evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs. The CVIPI webpage provides access to a variety of resources for planning, implementing, supporting, and assessing community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts. CVIPI funding can support goal-setting, analysis, and planning activities.
Community Violence Intervention Implementation Checklist
Developed with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Community Violence Intervention Implementation Checklist captures background information about CVI efforts, CVI guiding principles, and details on the following specific steps to take when implementing CVI programs.
Bureau of Justice Assistance National Training and Technical Assistance Center
The BJA National Training and Technical Assistance Center connects justice agencies with national experts to help reduce violent and drug-related crime. A specific Violence Reduction Response Center connects localities with resources to help address the work of identifying where and among whom violence is concentrating. Jurisdictions interested in implementing strategies outlined in the Roadmap may also contact NTTAC to request TTA from the Police Executive Research Forum. In collaboration with BJA and a cadre of subject matter experts, PERF will coordinate no-cost TTA services designed to enhance jurisdictions’ capacity to reduce community gun violence and promote community trust.
Project Safe Neighborhoods is spearheaded by each U.S. Attorney’s Office, bringing together federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement officials, community leaders and other stakeholders to identify their most pressing violent crime problems and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. The PSN website includes training resources for all localities working to reduce violence, including a gun violence resource hub. Localities should connect with their United States Attorney’s Office to better understand these resources.
National Public Safety Partnership
The National Public Safety Partnership is a network of communities who are committed to implementing evidence-informed approaches to reducing violence and enhancing public safety. It is a DOJ-wide program that connects communities with peers and experts to receive coordinated training and technical assistance. There are many resources available to all jurisdictions – including virtual training academies and published materials - through the Clearinghouse, including numerous resources supporting the identification of individuals and locations most at-risk of violence.
The Smart Policing Initiative assists police agencies with identifying innovative and evidence-based solutions to effectively and efficiently tackle chronic crime problems in their jurisdictions. The SPI website also has publicly available resources including implementation guides, toolkits, survey guides, community engagement strategies, and problem-oriented policing tactics.
Additional Resources
Grant Funding
Training & Technical Assistance
Law Enforcement-Mental Health Learning Sites
Helps public safety personnel implement effective responses to people with mental health needs, including those police and other Council of State Governments Justice Center stakeholders frequently interact with.
Project Safe Neighborhoods Training and Technical Assistance Program
BJA, in partnership with Michigan State University, the CNA Institute for Public Research, and the National Center for Victims of Crime, provides training and technical assistance in the implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods.
OJJDP National Training and Technical Assistance Center
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention provides TTA resources to address the needs of juvenile justice practitioners and support state and local efforts to build capacity and expand the use of evidence-based practices.
The National Gang Center contains numerous resources to support communities that are working to prevent and reduce violence. The NGC provides both direct engagement and produced guidance assist localities where those people and places most at risk of experiencing violence are involved in group-related violence.
Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Training and Technical Assistance
This program supports data-driven, place-based, and community-oriented strategies to reduce crime, build partnerships and enhance trust. The available resources include research reports on effective uses of focused deterrence, group-based violence interventions, and community violence intervention programs.
Guides, Reports and Webinars
BJA Violent Crime Reduction Summit Resource Center
Resources from the BJA Violent Crime Reduction Summit designed to offer insights and tools to jurisdictions in addressing violent crime that impacts their communities.
Project Safe Neighborhoods Blueprint for Success (PDF, 4.3 MB)
This BJA resource provides background information about the DOJ initiative Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), how to build a strong PSN initiative, including the use of data and evidence, key design elements, and training and technical assistance services available. This report also identifies and describes the implementation of the various PSN features linked to its effective performance.
Paving the Way for Project Safe Neighborhoods: SACSI in 10 US Cities (PDF, 353 KB)
The Department of Justice launched the Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) to test data-driven intervention strategies for targeted homicide, youth violence, firearm violence in 9 cities and rape and sexual assault in 1 city. The study found that the SACSI approach, when implemented effectively, is associated with reductions in targeted violent crimes, sometimes by as much as 50 percent. This report highlights the key elements that led to success of SACSI, such as leadership provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the integration of research into planning and intervention strategies, collaborative strategic planning, and implementation of various intervention strategies.
Violent Crime Reduction Operations Guide (PDF, 5.2 MB)
This BJA-sponsored, practitioner-focused guide outlines actions and activities that have contributed to successful crime-fighting strategies throughout the country. This guide complements existing conversations and offers a unique “for the field, by the field” perspective that combines best practices and research to assist law enforcement executives in assessing capacity and strategic planning.
Crime Solutions Program Profile: Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative (CAGI)
A crime-focused initiative, designed to address gang-related gun homicides in selected cities. The Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative (CAGI) was implemented in 12 select cities in response to increasing gang prevalence across the country. The main purpose of the CAGI was to prevent and reduce gang-related crime. The initiative involved a comprehensive model of suppression (enforcement), prevention, and reentry. The program is rated Promising; there was a significant reduction in gun homicides related to gang crime in cities that implemented the initiative.
Deterring and Reducing Opportunities for Violence in Hot Spots
This webinar provides insights on how to understand and address violence connected to hot spots.
Understanding Socio-environmental and Physical Risk Factors Influencing Firearm Violence
This project studies the interaction among built-environment features, socioeconomic traits, and firearm violence, so law enforcement and planners can consider ways to prevent firearm violence.
This study on policing strategies compares the impact of a police collaborative problem-solving approach, directed patrol, and standard policing on hot spots and resident opinions.
This webinar describes the overarching findings and lessons learned since the inception of SPI, as it relates to the use of various Smart Policing strategies (e.g., person-based, place-based, organizational change, predictive analytics, technology) to address a variety of crime problems (gun violence, gangs, property crime, homicides, domestic violence and more).
Smart Policing - Understanding and Responding to Crime and Disorder Hot Spots POP Guide
This guide highlights hot spots policing, which is sometimes referred to as place-based policing. It is highly compatible with problem-oriented policing and the scanning, analysis, response and assessment model. This guide uses the SARA model as a framework to discuss the process of understanding and responding to hot spots.
Innovative Community Engagement Strategies for Community-Based Crime Reduction
This webinar provides information on innovative community engagement strategies for community-based violence reduction efforts (free registration required). The webinar includes lessons learned from the Newark Community Street Team and their work to reach communities during COVID-19 conditions.
This research project examines the impact of the Group Violence Reduction Strategy in New Orleans.
Smart Policing – Successful Strategies to Reduce Gun Violence
This webinar focuses on the use of strategies and crime intelligence to target gun-related violence, highlighting SPI sites successfully addressing this issue through a focus on individuals at-risk of experiencing violence.
The Fight Against Rampant Gun Violence
This article by NIJ staff provides an overview of the evidence from NIJ-funded research on gun violence and prevention.
This webinar summarizes the evidence on reducing youth gang and group violence and its implications for practice.
CrimeSolutions.gov is a central, reliable resource to help practitioners and policymakers understand what works in justice-related programs and practices. It assists in practical decision making and program implementation by gathering information on specific justice-related programs and practices and reviewing the existing evaluation and meta-analysis research against standard criteria.