Introduction
The National Institute of Justice posits that crime prevention programs or policies target changes in infrastructure, culture as well as the physical environment in crime reduction (NIJ, 206). These prevention programs seek to engage all stakeholders; right from individual residents to government agencies in racking factors that lead to crime, delinquency and disorder.
Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) New Orleans City Program
The group violence reduction strategy (GVRS) in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a program that focused on deterrence approach in reducing gang violence and homicide in the area among communities and residents. The program is rated as one of the effective and successful crime prevention strategies in the country. The GVRS program was implemented with the aim of addressing the continual citywide patterns of crime that affected the City of New Orleans in Louisiana (National Institute of Justice, 2016). Using an interagency partnership approach, the GVRS program relies on data to identify serious offenders responsible for a significant share of serious acts of violence in New Orleans.
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The program was created because of the increased incidences of violent crimes in New Orleans. The city experienced a disproportionate share of gang-related violence, homicide, and firearm associated homicide and firearm assaults. The program was created to focus and target gang members and criminally active formations that were identified by multi-agency partnerships. The identified members become targets of a three-prolonged strategy that entails law enforcement, threat of prosecution, and accessibility to social services. The approach is aimed at ensuring that gang members change their conduct and criminal behavior and avoid the possible incarceration and further action from the law enforcement agencies.
The components of the program include the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) that carries out offender notification sessions of the targeted members of gangs. In the sessions, the NOPD notifies the gang members about the increased sanctions that they will receive if they have any future involvement in violence and criminal acts (NIJ, 2016). Individual members of the gang also receive personalized notification where antiviolence messages are delivered by members of the NOPD (NIJ, 2016). The program has several key personnel that include state agencies, community and social services personnel as well as researchers and crime prevention scholars from the University of Cincinnati.
Criminology Theories used in the Program
It is evident that the program focuses on deterrence as well as offering the offenders a choice to act rational and stop engaging in future criminal activities. The GVRS is a program that uses the deterrence strategy in crime prevention (NIJ, 2016). The approach posits that it is possible to prevent crime in an area when the potential offenders understand the risk of being arrested and the seriousness as well as the swiftness of the sanctions that are bigger than the perceived benefits that may emanate in commission of a crime (Lopez, 2016). In this case, focused deterrence approach occurs as law enforcement officers deliver messages about the high risk in terms of swift arrest and punishment to the persistent, serious, and violent offenders that get involved in violent crimes within the City of New Orleans. Secondly, by delivering the message about the sanctions that one will get in committing a crime, the law enforcement officers provide the offender with a rational choice; either to commit a crime or not so as to stay safe. Therefore, it is a matter of choice for the offender when he or she decides to commit a crime after getting all information regarding the sanctions.
Program’s Success
The program in New Orleans is considered successful because the city’s crime rate in overall homicide, gang member violence and firearm assault has reduced significantly. For instance, in comparison to other 14 cities with similar problems in crime rates, New Orleans continues to record a reduction the number of such crimes
References
Lopez, G. (2016). 6 proven policies for reducing crime and violence without gun control.
Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2016/2/15/10981274/crime-violence-policies-guns
National Institute of Justice (2016). Program Profile: Group Violence Reduction Strategy (New
Orleans, Louisiana). Retrieved from https://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=490
