Describe the social issue and explain why traditional or past approaches have not been effective in solving the problem.
Firearm-related injuries in the US have a great impact on life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ranked gun-related injury as the third biggest cause of injury death. More than 100,000 Americans are injured or killed annually due to firearms (Resnick et al., 2017, p. 2). Additionally, gun violence degrades the quality of life, exacerbates emigration, reduced community cohesion, and increases unemployment rates, which encourage more violence (Cook & Pollack, 2017, p. 2). Public concern and advocacy for the reduction of gun violence increased since the mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Despite the continued effort to solve the issue, some states have recently amended their gun laws to make them less stringent while others tighten their regulations (Cook & Pollack, 2017, p. 2). Mitigating and preventing gun violence is a social justice issue that requires a prominent position on the political agenda.
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The struggle to control gun violence has been one of the most contentious social issues among Americans. Developing suitable solutions for the issue is hampered by the limited research caused by politics around guns. Additionally, the gun regulation system is modest since cities and states can supplement federally required regulations at will. Traditional solutions to gun violence have been focused on gun control. The Federal Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968 banned gun acquisition by illegal aliens, adults convicted of felonies, minors, and mentally-ill people. However, the Act failed to require federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs) to perform due diligence in determining the purchaser’s eligibility. Several states mandated FFLs to perform background checks on potential firearm purchasers (Ludwig, 2017, p. 12097). However, keeping guns out of peoples’ hands has proven ineffective due to the abundance of guns and the US’s permissive laws. Every adult citizen is constitutionally entitled to own guns unless disqualified based on crime or mental health. Moreover, an estimated 250 million guns are in private hands, making effective control beyond reach (Cook & Pollack, 2017, p. 3). Consequently, public officials are seeking innovative approaches to reduce gun violence that are not damaging to police-community relations and respect civil rights.
Describe the innovative approach and process taken in the implementation of the model or pilot program that led to transformative results.
A high rate of gun violence prompted the Boston Police Department (BPD) to implement the Safe Street Teams (SST) program to minimize crime rates in hot spot areas characterized by disproportionate violence rates. The program applied service and problem-oriented policing interventions (Braga & Schnell, 2013, p. 340). The Boston SPI focused on violent crime, such as robberies and assaults committed with guns. The goal of the SPI was to enhance policing effectiveness while containing the associated costs (White & Fradella, 2016, p. 157). Technology played a foundational role in the program.
Implementation of the model started with a 28-year longitudinal analysis of violent crime. Computerized mapping technology and violent crime rate data were used to identify thirteen chronic hot spots of gun violence crimes, which would receive the SST program. However, not all hotspots received an SST. Treatment areas were chosen conveniently based on teams perceptions of need. A deputy superintendent oversaw the SST initiative (Braga & Schnell, 2013, p. 344). Each SST was assigned a sergeant and half a dozen patrol officers to the chronic violent crime hot spots.
Moreover, the SPI also deployed about 400 varied situational, enforcement, and community techniques to identify and access recurring issues. SST officers used problem-oriented policing to determine why these issues persist and develop appropriate responses. All team members were required to practice community policing ideals to prevent and mitigate violence (Braga & Schnell, 2013, p. 344). Additionally, officers could not leave their assigned hotspots and patrolled these areas on foot or bicycles.
The officers were trained on the program’s stipulations and community and problem-oriented policing principles and techniques. The BPD held quarterly evaluation meetings to ascertain proper program implementation. The BPD implemented the SST program in 2007 and later received an SPI grant in 2009 to work with academic researchers in rigorously evaluating the program (Braga & Schnell, 2013, p. 345). The evaluation established the effectiveness of violent crime control.
Describe the breakthrough results of the effort, compared to previous efforts, backed with data and evidence.
During the three years after the implementation of the SST, violent crimes rates in Boston decreased progressively. In 2009, Boston recorded an 18% decline in violent index crimes, reaching a new low of about six thousand incidents. Gun-related aggravated assaults also reduced by 15%, along with a 19% reduction in armed robberies (Braga & Schnell, 2013, p. 351). Matched comparison of violent crime street hotspots were developed to contextualize the collected data.
The SST program revealed similar results to imposing mandatory waiting periods for handgun purchases. The federal Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was passed in 1994 in an attempt to control gun acquisition and reduce the overall number of guns available. The act required licensed firearm dealers to perform background checks and a five-day waiting period for purchases. Research indicates that implementing a five-day waiting period led to a 17% decline in gun homicides. Therefore, gun homicide rates decreased by 48% from the initial peak between 1993 and 2003. However, implementing background checks revealed inconsistent evidence (Ludwig, 2017, p. 12097). Imposing mandatory waiting periods does not have additional costs and is supported by many Americans.
Gun control regulations significantly reduce gun violence. A Canadian study found that enacting gun laws led to a 10% decline in firearm-related homicides (Lemieux, 2014, p. 76). A study conducted revealed that gun control laws the reduction of the availability of guns acted as a deterrence on male suicide. On the other hand, laws that sought to restrict high-risk individuals from purchasing guns were less effective in preventing male suicides. Implementing major gun control laws in Australia led to a 7.5% decline in firearm homicides and a 59% decline in firearm-related suicides. Practical gun buybacks contributed to an 80% decline in firearm suicide rates (Lemieux, 2014, p. 76). The SST program proved to be more effective in reducing gun violence, with the highest reduction rates in violent index crimes than gun control regulations.
What would be the opportunities and anticipated challenges in adapting this model in your State to solve a similar social problem. How would you advocate for your State to adopt the model? How might it transform social policy related to the issue?
Implementing the SST program in New York would reduce gun violence rates by reducing gun involvement. Consequently, the lethality and social costs of crime would significantly decrease. The social burden of gun violence would therefore decrease. These social burdens result from the misuse of guns to perpetrate fatal assaults, robberies, and suicides and cause accidents. The model would also help enhance the standard of living and increase life expectancy by reducing gunshot injuries and deaths. Moreover, health disparities across race and gender would also be reduced (Cook & Pollack, 2017, p. 9). Gun violence is also a neighborhood disamenity and leads to a fall in property values. Therefore, implementing the SST program in New York would increase property values (Cook & Pollack, 2017, p. 14). Embedding a criminologist in the police department would enhance its capacity to comprehend the nature of recurring gun-related crimes (Braga & Davis, 2014, p. 295). Implementing the program would allow more resources to be allocated to other priority issues, such as education. The SST program would shift social policy on gun violence from gun control to problem-specific policing.
Firearm regulations that target enhancing public safety are considered a public good that benefits everyone in society. However, the individual incentive to incur the associated costs, such as lobbying for new laws, is limited. Therefore, one of the anticipated primary challenges in adapting this model is the collective action problem. Gun politics in America are influenced by a highly motivated minority of the population (Ludwig, 2017, p. 12098). For example, gun owners might perceive any firearm regulation as a violation of the second amendment and repeal their gun rights.
Social media is a great tool for advocating for policies that target the reduction of gun violence. I would make appeals on social media to politicians to pass new gun laws. Moreover, I would also organize small rallies focused on sensitizing people about the impact of gun violence. Social media is a suitable tool for influencing the formation of individual and collective opinions and fostering political and social change (Smith, 2018, p. 294). Virtual activism would be suitable since it accelerates an activist movement.
References
Braga, A. A., & Davis, E. F. (2014). Implementing science in police agencies: The embedded research model. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice , 8 (4), 294-306. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pau039
Braga, A. A., & Schnell, C. (2013). Evaluating place-based policing strategies: Lessons learned from the smart policing initiative in Boston. Police Quarterly , 16 (3), 339-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611113497046
Cook, P. J., & Pollack, H. A. (2017). Reducing access to guns by violent offenders. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences , 3 (5), 2-36. https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2017.3.5.01
Lemieux, F. (2014). Effect of gun culture and firearm laws on gun violence and mass shootings in the United States: A multi-level quantitative analysis. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences , 9 (1), 74.
Ludwig, J. (2017). Reducing gun violence in America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 114 (46), 12097-12099. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717306114
Resnick, S., Smith, R. N., Beard, J. H., Holena, D., Reilly, P. M., Schwab, C. W., & Seamon, M. J. (2017). Firearm deaths in America: can we learn from 462,000 lives lost? Annals of surgery , 266 (3), 432. 10.1097/SLA.0000000000002376
Smith, J. N. (2018). The social network?: Nonprofit constituent engagement through social media. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing , 30 (3), 294-316. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495142.2018.1452821
White, M. D., & Fradella, H. F. (2016). Stop and frisk: The use and abuse of a controversial policing tactic . NYU Press.
