How do Communities Respond to Gun Violence Prevention Policies?: A Community-Focused Study of Gun Violence Prevention Work in New Haven, CT
By Yale Law School
Executive summary The primary goal of this project was to explore how gun violence prevention work impacts individuals considered at high risk of being directly impacted by gun violence. The current study aimed to elevate the voices of gun violence prevention program participants and impacted communities who can best attest to the influence and power of the message and services received. Gun Violence Prevention Models and Projects The Group Violence Intervention (GVI) model used in this work is a focused-deterrence strategy that targets groups of people at high risk of gun violence. GVI is facilitated by law enforcement agencies that identify individuals who are associated with or members of groups responsible for shootings. These individuals receive an anti-violence message from law enforcement agencies partnered with community representatives and social services providers. In New Haven, CT, Project Safe Neighborhoods (2002) and Project Longevity (2012) are current initiatives modeled after the GVI strategy. Cure Violence is a public health approach to address violence as a disease to be treated by violence interrupters in the community that mediate conflicts. One prominent community-based organization that modeled the Cure Violence Approach in New Haven, CT is Connecticut Violence Intervention Program (CTVIP). The Community Perspective Numerous evaluations across the nation highlight the success of the GVI and Cure Violence programs. However, many of these policy evaluations do not include the perspectives of the people closest to the problem and they also fall short of addressing the complexities and concurrent, environmental factors underlying participation within GVI initiatives. To this end, the current study explored how individuals at high risk of gun violence benefit from gun violence prevention services whether simultaneously participating in a GVI strategy or not. The current study emphasized why the field of gun violence prevention policy needs studies that are designed to elucidate the critical components of such programs from the community perspective, with results that show that the theory of change accurately represents the impact mechanisms at work on the ground. This project, therefore, proposed an exploratory, qualitative study of initiatives to address gun violence in New Haven, CT. The goal was to explore how gun violence prevention work impacts individuals considered at high risk of being perpetrators or victims of gun violence.
New Haven, CT: Yale Law School, The Justice Collaboratory , 2024. 49p.