Program Goals
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a nationwide, federally funded initiative that aims to allocate criminal justice resources toward reducing gun-related violence in urban communities. PSN was developed by combining strategies and tactics from other interventions such as Project Exile (in Richmond, Virginia), the Boston Gun Project, and the Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative. Each site that received funding followed the general PSN model (described below), but individualized the approach to target the specific nature of gun crimes in that city. For example, sites may have involved different partners on the interagency task force or focused their enforcement efforts on different types of suspects.
Program Activities
As part of PSN, an interagency task force is established to collect data and analyze patterns of gun violence in a community. A PSN task force includes local, state, and federal criminal justice agencies; community organizations; and local service providers. They work together to conduct a problem analysis that provides a detailed understanding of gun-related crime and violence in a specific neighborhood. Through data analysis and the coordinated efforts of all agencies, an individualized strategy to address gun violence is developed. The data-driven enforcement strategy aims to detect instances of gun violence and prosecute people severely.
Key Personnel
PSN involves a high level of interagency collaboration. Federal, state, and local law enforcement; prosecutors; and probation and parole officers collectively develop an enforcement plan under which gun violence and possession will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Criminal justice personnel also work closely with local service providers and community organizations to communicate the deterrence message, provide full warning of the enhanced enforcement of gun crimes, and offer social services to those convicted of an offense.
Program Theory
PSN aims to incapacitate and deter those who may commit violent offenses. Enhanced prosecution of gun-related crimes leads to longer prison and jail sentences for those individuals, keeping them off the streets and unable to commit additional crimes. Additionally, in communicating the message that the community will not tolerate gun crimes and that the full force of the criminal justice system will be dedicated to catching and harshly punishing these acts, persons recognize an increased risk associated with committing a gun-related crime. Consistent with theories of deterrence, this increased certainty and severity of punishment should discourage those who may be tempted from engaging in gun crimes (Kennedy, 1997).