Promising Strategies To Reduce Gun Violence - Office of Juvenile ...

Profile No. 2 (continued)
and government officials to identify and
address neighborhood issues using SNI
advisory councils and subcontracted programs.
The Office of the Attorney General
administers the program, which began in
1993, in cooperation with the Suffolk
County District Attorney’s Office, the
mayor’s office, and the police department.
SNI targets four high-crime, low-income
neighborhoods. Its revitalization efforts
include the organization and education of
local merchants, job training programs, expedited
city services, and a municipal priority
to rehabilitate abandoned property. SNI
also supports expanded hours for communitybased
youth centers, counseling services for
children in domestic violence situations, a
Child Witness to Violence Project, a Vietnamese
police liaison who mediates gang
disputes and conducts school presentations,
gang dispute mediation by the Dorchester
Youth Collaborative, small business training,
an SNI prosecution team, voluntary
business closures to avoid late-night crowds,
a drug education program for youth, and a
law student project that recommends ways
to reduce drugs, prostitution, and crime.
Funding comes from the Bureau of Justice
Assistance, which recently approved a new
4-year grant.
Summer of Opportunity
In 1994, the Boston-based John Hancock
Mutual Life Insurance Company began providing
financial support to an 8-week summer
program that pays urban youth a weekly stipend
while providing them with classes, field
trips, and a real-world internship at Northeastern
University or John Hancock. The
internships teach youth leadership and life
skills, including conflict resolution and time
management, and also assign mentors. Youth
are referred by the antiviolence unit of the
police department. Many program graduates
complete high school and go on to college or
obtain employment.
Outcomes
Since Operation Ceasefire, the Boston Gun
Project, Operation Night Light, neighborhood
policing, tougher youth offender laws,
and expanded prevention and intervention
programs went into effect, there has been a
dramatic decrease in the number of homicides
in the city of Boston. The table presented
below illustrates these results. This
reduction in homicides and youth homicides
cannot directly be attributed to any one of
these programs but more likely is due to the
Table 1. Homicides in Boston
Age of Offender
Year 24 and 16 and Younger Total
Younger
(Firearm-Related)
1990 62 10 152
1995 40 2 96
1996 26 0 61
1997 15 1 43
1998* 10 2 23
*(first 8 months)
32 Promising Strategies To Reduce Gun Violence