Program Profile: Group Violence Reduction Strategy (New Orleans, Louisiana)

This focused deterrence strategy in New Orleans, Louisiana, aims to reduce gang violence and homicide. The program is rated Effective. There were statistically significant reductions found in overall homicide, firearm-related homicide, gang member-involved homicide, and firearm assault from the pretest to the posttest period. Further, New Orleans showed significantly decreased homicide rates after the program was implemented, compared with 14 cities with similar violent crime rates.

An Effective rating implies that implementing the program is likely to result in the intended outcome(s).

An Effective rating implies that implementing the program is likely to result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals

The Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) is a focused deterrence intervention that was implemented in New Orleans, Louisiana, with the goal of addressing persistent, citywide patterns of violence. Operating through interagency partnerships, the GVRS uses a data-driven approach to identify key individuals who are responsible for a disproportionate share of serious violence in New Orleans. The focused deterrence strategy, which is based on the Boston CeaseFire model, is designed to use problem analyses to identify high-risk groups and gangs, to advise gang members and other group-involved violent persons (during call-in notification sessions) that they will be subjected to intensified enforcement and prosecution if they continue engaging in violence, and to provide the targeted individuals with access to social services.

Target Population

GVRS targets members of gangs and criminally active groups who are identified through multi-agency partnerships. Those identified become the targets of a three-pronged approach: law enforcement, threat of enhanced prosecution, and access to social services.

Program Components

The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) conducts separate “offender notification sessions” with the targeted gang members. During the sessions, the groups and gang members are notified about heightened sanctions that their groups will receive for any future involvement in violence; they are then asked to pass along this information to other group members. The individuals are specifically warned that their entire group will be under immediate, enhanced law-enforcement scrutiny for subsequent murders or shootings committed by anyone associated with their gangs. To demonstrate the seriousness of the message, the NOPD provides the groups with examples of previous gangs that were arrested and faced severe federal- and state-prison terms. During these notification sessions, information about social service provisions is also provided.

In addition to these sessions, a small number of individuals receive a “custom notification session”; that is, they are visited by a member of the NOPD who delivers a personalized antiviolence message.

Key Personnel

At the beginning of the project, a working group consisting of NOPD officers; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) special agents; researchers from the University of Cincinnati’s Institute of Crime Science; and members of the Cincinnati Police Department collaborated to conduct homicide-incident reviews and gang audits to ascertain potential violent groups. The working group organized information about violent street gangs into “actionable intelligence” that was categorized according to individual gang members, geography, social networks, and participation in violence. From this list, the working group identified potential street gangs from six districts in the NOPD. This list was also continuously updated by the NOPD officials who were most acquainted with the criminal groups and gangs in the area. Other key personnel included social service and community partners, who attended the notification sessions and encouraged attendees to sign up for services. General partners included the Institute of Crime Science at the University of Cincinnati and the National Network for Safe Communities.

Program Theory

GVRS is a focused deterrence strategy, also called the “pulling levers” violence-reduction strategy, which was developed in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1990s as Operation Ceasefire (Braga et al. 2001). Deterrence theory argues that crime can be prevented when those who may consider committing a crime perceive the risk of apprehension and the seriousness and swiftness of sanctions to be greater than any benefits that will accrue from committing a crime. Focused deterrence theory operates by delivering a message about the high risk of swift apprehension and punishment to the chronic, serious, violent persons who are involved in most of the city’s violent crime. Focused deterrence theory is rooted in problem-oriented policing, a highly focused law-enforcement approach that aims to assess, identify, and disrupt the underlying causes of chronic crime problems, by using methods beyond traditional police practice (Corsaro and Engel 2015).

Program Note

The Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) was implemented simultaneously with the CURE Violence model (formerly Chicago CeaseFire), as part of a larger NOLA for Life murder-reduction strategy (Skogan et al. 2009). According to the National Network for Safe Communities, the GVI model (e.g., Operation Ceasefire) and CeaseFire – Chicago (also known as CURE Violence) are similar in that both strategies employ street workers to prevent retaliatory violence and provide access to services, but they also have important differences. For example, in New Orleans, CURE Violence relied on violence interrupters and outreach workers to mediate conflicts between conflicting organizations in the Central City area, while GVRS took a focused deterrence approach. Also, the Cure Violence model engages with law enforcement less directly, whereas the GVI model incorporates as central the law enforcement–community partnership. For more information, see the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College Website.

Study

The evaluation of the Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) by Corsaro and Engel (2015) consisted of a two-phase, quasi-experimental design with multiple comparisons. The primary comparisons were between New Orleans and other urban cities in the United States with similarly high rates of homicide— both historically and in the more immediate study period (2008–2013). The authors also evaluated trends within the city for the types of offenses most likely to be affected by GVRS and as compared with other crime types.

The comparison cities were selected as a result of prior research that identified 15 cities (including New Orleans) with similarly high-trajectory patterns of homicide rates over a 30-year period (1976 to 2005). The 14 comparison communities operated under business-as-usual; they were not directly involved in the GVRS study but their Uniform Crime Report (UCR) crime data were compared with data from the City of New Orleans. The 14 comparison cities were Atlanta, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; Birmingham, Ala.; Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Detroit, Mich.; Flint, Mich.; Gary, Ind.; Miami, Fla.; New Orleans, La.; Newark, N.J.; Oakland, Calif.; Richmond, Va.; St. Louis, Mo.; and Washington, D.C.

The first main analysis examined annual homicide rates in New Orleans and the comparison cities for 2008–2013. In the first set of analyses, the relative homicide rate change in New Orleans was compared with changes in homicide among the comparison cities. Several difference-in-difference Poisson regression models were estimated using data for each city during the study period.

The second set of analyses used monthly data on overall homicides, firearm-related homicides, firearm assaults, and gang member-involved (GMI) homicides in New Orleans from January 2010 through January 2014. To assess the impact of the program within New Orleans, interrupted time-series analyses were conducted. Four citywide, monthly outcome variables were assessed: overall homicides, firearm-related homicides, firearm assaults, and gang member-involved (GMI) homicides.

Finally, the researchers controlled for the potential influence of simultaneously administered strategies (i.e., CURE Violence) within New Orleans to rule out potential confounding effects on the outcomes. No subgroup analyses were conducted.

The Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) is an implementation of the Group Violence Intervention (GVI) strategy, under the National Network for Safe Communities, which is a project of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. GVI programs are known by different names in different cities, where they are tailored to local conditions while preserving GVI’s core principles.  

The Web site for the National Network for Safe Communities (https://nnscommunities.org/impact/cities) lists over 80 network member cities and indicates the National Network’s strategies that have been deployed in more than 60 cities. An implementation guide is available on the website.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Braga, Anthony A., David M. Kennedy, Elin J. Waring, and Anne Morrison Piehl. 2001. “Problem-Oriented Policing, Deterrence, and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of Boston’s Operation Ceasefire.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 38(3):195–225.

McCall, Patricia L., Kenneth C. Land, and Karen F. Parker. 2011. “Heterogeneity in the Rise and Decline of City-Level Homicide Rates, 1976–2005: A Latent Trajectory Analysis.” Social Science Research 40(1):363–78.

Skogan, Wesley G., Susan M. Hartnett, Natalie Bump, and Jill Dubois. 2009. Evaluation of CeaseFire-Chicago. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Focused Deterrence Strategies

This practice (also referred to as “pulling-levers policing”) includes problem-oriented policing strategies that follow the core principles of deterrence theory. The strategies target specific criminal behavior committed by a small number of individuals who chronically commit offenses, such as youth gang members or those who repeatedly commit violent offenses, who are vulnerable to sanctions and punishment. The practice is rated Promising for reducing crime.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Problem-Oriented Policing

These analytic methods are used by police to develop crime prevention and reduction strategies. The practice is rated Promising and led to a significant decline in crime and disorder.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?