Project Safe Neighborhoods: Engaging the Community in Project Safe Neighborhoods

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Examples of Community Engagement in PSN

Pullquote: PSN partnership with Weed and Seed is just natural--same target areas, same crimes, same problem solving During the December 2004 PSN working group session mentioned earlier, task forces with experience in community engagement offered several examples of successful community engagement strategies (discussed below).¹³ In addition, several key themes were noted during the discussion:

Community engagement has been most successful where PSN task forces have worked with their partners—particularly Weed & Seed.
Community engagement in PSN is a step-by-step process that begins with outreach and dialogue, in order to build trust.
Community outreach does not have to be overly complex or expensive. There are steps that any task force can take in the short term to increase community involvement in PSN.

Community Forums: Linking PSN with Weed & Seed

Various types of forums and meetings can be held that give the community opportunities to share their ideas and concerns. These meetings let the community deliver messages to the PSN task force, not just hear messages from it.

Some forums may be town hall-style meetings where a presentation about PSN activities is followed by an open-ended question-and-answer session. Others have a more specific purpose, such as working with community members to address a problem. This was the case in Detroit (Eastern District of Michigan), where partnering with Weed & Seed in the PSN target areas helped the PSN task force hold successful community forums. Results included the formation of 22 new block watches; the assignment of gun cases to the Project Sentry coordinator; and the continuation of efforts to build new partnerships in areas that are not part of Weed & Seed.

Linking PSN and Weed & Seed in Detroit

In Detroit (Eastern District of Michigan), PSN engaged the community by immediately building on the credibility that the Weed & Seed program had already established. The process began in the Highland Park community, where two town hall meetings were held to discuss a critical issue—a drastic reduction in the number of police officers assigned to Highland Park (from 50 to about 7).

Community Meetings. The first meeting was small: a high ranking law enforcement representative, the Weed & Seed steering committee, and representatives of faith and community organizations. This group was asked to spread the word about the second town hall meeting.

The second meeting attracted more than 400 people and included a question and answer session as well as a “call to action.” Community participants were asked to report crimes to the police or Crime Stoppers tip line and to sign up for the existing citizens patrol and block clubs/Neighborhood Watch (22 new block watches started as a result). Distribution of trigger locks and a state police presentation on gun safety were also part of the agenda.

Community Priorities. Similar meetings, all including a call to action, were held in the 9th Precinct on Detroit 's East Side , which had the highest number of gun crimes in the city and in the 5th Precinct (not a Weed & Seed area). At these forums, community members' priority issues became apparent: prisoner re-entry, youth education, coordination with law enforcement, safety training, and abandoned houses topped the list. As a result of these meetings, and in order to maintain momentum, the Project Sentry coordinator, who originally did not have a caseload, now handles gun cases and is working on building partnerships in areas that are not part of Weed & Seed.

Advice from PSN Task Forces

Expect questions about how or whether PSN is addressing longer-term goals such as crime prevention and deterrence. Many community members may be under the impression that PSN is a “short-term fix” focused only on arrests and convictions.
Consider making every Weed & Seed site a PSN site.
Tailor your information to the audience. Use available data and research to speak directly to conditions in the audience’s own neighborhoods.
Recognize community assets. Be aware that a community may be wary of being “singled out” as crime-ridden or feel discouraged by media reports detailing how dangerous its streets are, how rundown it appears, or how its families are in trouble, especially when community strengths are never mentioned. Some PSN projects have found real estate associations as well as residents reluctant to have large billboards and posters calling attention to a neighborhood's status as a “target site.” In one state, no jurisdiction wanted to be the “kick-off city” (recipient of bad press) for the PSN initiative and the campaign had to be generalized to apply to the state as a whole.

Reaching Out to the Community: Other Targeted Approaches

Many community leaders and segments of the community never attend public forums. Because of this, a range of approaches is needed to identify and engage them. Examples from across the country that various PSN task forces have found promising include:

Knocking on doors. The Indianapolis PSN initiative's Project CARE involved 90 days of intensive police presence in the Northeast side of the city, which had been the site of recent killings. Police officers went door to door talking to residents, distributing a PSN pamphlet, and providing information about a new CARE tip line.
Sponsoring community events like barbeques and picnics. In the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the USAO sponsors a PSN “Summer Kick-Off Picnic” in partnership with local and federal law enforcement, local fire and EMS, parks and recreation, and faith-based and community organizations.
Celebrating PSN successes with the community. After winning a national award for outstanding local police involvement in PSN, police in Clarksdale, Missouri (Eastern District of Missouri) invited the public to a banquet celebrating their PSN successes.
Attending neighborhood association and crime watch groups. The District of Utah used an existing community council structure (composed of neighborhood groups) to promote PSN and distribute outreach materials at meetings.
Involving the business community. In Indianapolis (Southern District of Indiana), a Women's Enrichment Luncheon featured a presentation by Judge Glenda Hatchett (from the “People's Court” television program) to 500 businesswomen to get them involved in PSN. Follow-up includes exploring ways that volunteers can continue supporting PSN—for example, by displaying messages in windows or spreading the PSN message at events like fairs and back to school nights.
Involving the community in media outreach. In Denver (District of Colorado), community members were convened as a focus group to discuss the effectiveness of media messages. The Advertising Council, Inc., holds focus groups on national public service ads (PSAs), but districts can consider focus groups to assist with locally produced PSAs.
Establishing an anonymous tip hotline for students. In the Middle District of Tennessee, the USAO partnered with local law enforcement to establish an anonymous tip line for students to report guns on school property.
Setting up “information lines” that refer callers to resources. In the District of Connecticut, PSN announcements on CTTransit buses in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport included the message: "QUESTIONS ABOUT GUNS? CALL 2-1-1." Callers could request information about gun safety issues, gun locks, and programs that discourage illegal gun possession and use. The 2-1-1 Infoline is operated by the United Way.¹⁴

Involving Criminal Justice Partners in Community Outreach

Law Enforcement

Partnerships with local law enforcement and community groups have been vital to the success of PSN initiatives (see sidebar, “Community Involvement in Los Angeles Ceasefire”). PSN coordinators are already working with law enforcement, but they may not be fully aware of the department's community policing strategies. It may just be a matter of asking the right (community engagement) questions, such as: “What is the department already doing with the community in PSN target areas?” and “How else does the department involve the community in addressing gun crime?” Resources may include beat officers involved in problem solving at the neighborhood or precinct levels; bicycle patrols; school resource officers; block watch groups; crime prevention councils; or liaison committees with various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.

Community Involvement in Los Angeles Ceasefire

Ceasefire in Los Angeles (Central District of California) involved months of planning and coordination by 19 public and private agencies throughout the city and county. The Boston Ceasefire project served as a model for developing this working group, which included community and faith-based organizations as well as criminal justice agencies.

By working with researchers and analyzing data from multiple sources, the group identified the area where it believed interventions would be most likely to have an impact (Hollenbeck section of Los Angeles , especially the Boyle Heights neighborhood). Not only did the area have high rates of violent, gun, and gang-related crime, it also had community structures in place that were designed to help gang members pursue alternatives to violent behavior. Enforcement interventions included warrant service, saturation patrols, and enforcement of probation/parole and public housing residency regulations. The project deviated from its original “stick and carrot” design, however, after community representatives urged immediate implementation of the law enforcement component (before programs and services were in a position to meet demand).

The project evaluators noted that “[p]erhaps the most important success of the program was the working group . . .[which] also helped build community support for the intervention that exceeded its expectations.”

Source: G. E. Tita, et al.
Reducing Gun Violence: Operation Ceasefire in Los Angeles

Prosecutors

Community prosecution can be another important resource for community engagement in PSN. One example of coordination among local prosecutors, PSN, and the community can be seen in Phoenix (District of Arizona). Two prosecutors employed by the Phoenix City Prosecutor's Office work out of the U.S. Attorney's Office as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys. They are assigned to handle gun cases that arise in the city of Phoenix and prosecute them federally.¹⁵ In addition, ATF agents ride with patrol officers; authorities meet weekly to discuss strategies; monthly meetings are held with community members to learn more about residents' problems; and the city health and neighborhood services departments have been brought into the project.

Linking PSN and Neighborhood Prosecutors

The State Attorney in Vierra, Florida (Middle District of Florida) is a PSN partner and has also been a partner in Weed & Seed. He considers PSN/Weed & Seed collaboration vital, because both projects have similar concerns about the same target areas, and because “staff burns out . . .you have to collaborate.”

Neighborhood prosecutors and victim advocates have been in place since the 1990s. Prosecutors go out walking with police and hand out fliers. They also help convene community meetings. Still, the State Attorney notes that “community outreach is by far the most difficult part” and that more needs to be done.

Another example comes from the Eastern District of Missouri. There, PSN funding is being used to open two neighborhood offices where prosecutors and investigators work with community members to identify the offenders who do the most harm.

Probation/Parole

Probation/parole partners on PSN task forces typically are involved in enforcement strategies and in reinforcing the message of accountability at post-release meetings with offenders (see the section on “Engaging Offender Populations”). Like police and prosecutors who work in neighborhoods, probation/parole agencies also have ties to community organizations and groups that PSN may want to involve.

Ideas to Watch …

Probation/Parole and Neighborhood Watch

One of the oldest and best known crime prevention programs in the U.S. is the Neighborhood Watch program, which was created to unite community organizations and law enforcement agencies to reduce crime in neighborhoods. Neighborhood Watch has not typically included probation and parole, but greater probation/parole involvement has the potential to enhance Neighborhood Watch programs and convey information about PSN.

Probation and parole agencies are tasked with helping reduce crime by monitoring and assisting offenders in the neighborhood. They have traditionally asked for the assistance of community organizations, such as religious institutions, neighborhood groups, and local residents, to monitor the behavior of offenders by providing treatment and services.

The American Probation and Parole Association, in conjunction with PSN, encourages PSN task forces to involve local probation and parole officers in Neighborhood Watch and other community group meetings. Probation/parole officers can

Speak to the neighborhood about the probation/parole role in the criminal justice system and in PSN
Inform residents of state and federal firearms laws that apply to felony and domestic violence offenders
Address questions and concerns residents may have about offenders residing in their neighborhoods.

Including probation and parole in addressing public safety concerns of a neighborhood may lead to the implementation of unique crime prevention, intervention and community outreach programs.

Contact with the watch group is also beneficial public relations for the local probation office; it puts a "face" on probation.

Source: American Probation and Parole Association

Engaging Youth and Families in PSN

The ability to sustain reductions in gun crime depends on reaching families of offenders and youth who are at high risk of using guns as a way to solve problems. In 2003, nearly 10,000 of the nation's 14,400 murder victims died from gunshot wounds.¹⁶ In that same year, nearly one-third of murder victims were between the ages of 13 and 24, although this age group represents only about 17 percent of the country's population.¹⁷

Reaching Out to High Risk Youth and Families

The examples below illustrate ways in which PSN task forces have been providing services to vulnerable youth and families.

Making home visits. Through Operation Homefront in Boston (District of Massachusetts), a team of community leaders and law enforcement officials—clergy, an assistant district attorney, a police officer, a victim-witness coordinator, and sometimes a probation officer—visits families of incarcerated parents. The team endeavors to identify the needs of prisoners' children and other family members and offers help with jobs, food, youth programs, etc.¹⁸
Holding community workshops and rallies. The Detroit area PSN project (Eastern District of Michigan) holds educational workshops for youth and families at 4-H and Boys & Girls Club facilities. Topics include family strengthening, youth development, and how to organize block watch clubs. In addition, gun safety locks are explained and distributed.
Educating youth about criminal justice processes. Project Impact (part of Project Sentry in the Eastern District of Michigan) involves middle school youth recommended by counselors and teachers. The youth experience a (hypothetical) arrest and sentencing process—have fingerprints taken, meet with a judge, receive a sentence, etc.—and also learn about law enforcement careers.
Creating an organization to mentor youth. In the Northern District of Texas, collaboration among law enforcement officials, non-profit organizations, faith and neighborhood groups, and others resulted in the creation of the South Fair Community Development Corporation (CDC). The CDC serves about 120 youth and provides mentoring, literacy programs, parenting education, life skills training, recreation, and other services.

Engaging Youth to Develop and Deliver PSN Messages

PSN task forces are finding creative ways to engage youth so that they are not only recipients of services, but also creators of PSN messages and “legs” for delivering those messages. Some task forces make presentations in schools or distribute brochures, caps, and T-shirts at community events. These activities can go beyond informing to include opportunities for dialogue with youth. Milwaukee and Kansas City have found creative ways to involve youth in developing and delivering PSN messages. Other examples include:

In Tulsa (Northern District of Oklahoma), a media contest was held that challenged students to develop ads, posters, and editorials about gun crimes. This led to regular Ceasefire presentations in the schools
An anti gun-violence skit by high school students in Denver (District of Colorado) was presented at a town hall forum.
In Milwaukee (Eastern District of Wisconsin), Project Ujima involved youth affected by gun crime—either because they or their family members were victims. The youth, working with local theater professionals, wrote a play to teach other youth about the impact of gun violence. The play was performed at Safe Haven¹⁹ sites, but the project could be replicated in other settings (e.g., a juvenile detention center to reach youth at high risk of gun violence).

Gangs and Guns: Involving Youth in POSSE in Kansas City

Kansas City (Western District of Missouri) has had an aggressive Weed & Seed effort, and under PSN, the POSSE program (Peers Organized to Support Student Excellence) is working in the same target area. Directed by a former gang member, POSSE targets youth who have been expelled from regular high schools. It involves a core group of youth—two schools have posses of 50-60 students—who encourage other youth (800 so far) to sign pledges not to solve problems through firearm violence. Activities include

Making school presentations. The backdrop for these presentations is a quilted banner made up of squares created by Ceasefire supporters.
Distributing PSN information at community festivals.
Going door to door in the Weed and Seed neighborhood and leaving PSN door hangers (youth do this under police supervision).

Milwaukee “Speak Your Peace” Competition

PSN in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, worked with its media outreach partner to come up with a way to “give youth a creative outlet for their emotions.” As a first step, teachers and community leaders were consulted to develop a better understanding of the targeted youth. Findings included:

Many had no hope and did not see themselves living past the age of 21
Their lives tended to “revolve around electronics”
Their mothers and siblings were the only stable things in their lives
They often thought of sports and rapping as the only ways out of the neighborhood

The Speak Your Peace Competition encouraged 15- to 24-year-olds to record their own rap songs. Swearing was not permitted and youth were required to incorporate “gun crime means hard time” into the rap. More than 100 youth entered; finalists would receive awards of professionally produced recordings, air time, and other media exposure. The community was engaged in the following ways:

Donation of recording equipment at two community centers where youth could go to record their entries
Involvement of community members (not professional DJs) as an expert panel of judges
Distribution by police officers of 1,500 “Speak Your Peace” CDs (a compilation of winning entries)

Collaborating with Community and Faith-Based Organizations

The Indianapolis PSN project (Southern District of Indiana) is one of the most experienced in working with faith-based and other community organizations. At the December 2004 meeting on community engagement in PSN, the Indianapolis PSN coordinator discussed the benefits of working with these organizations. For example, they

Help prosecutors and law enforcement build a “link of trust” with the community.
Can be a force to resolve conflicts that might otherwise result in protests.
Represent “a voice that is listened to by young people.”
Are typically the first to interact with families and loved ones of those who have been shot and killed.

Collaborating with Faith-Based and Community Groups in Indianapolis

The Indianapolis (Southern District of Indiana) PSN initiative's Community Outreach Committee is headed by Dr. Melvin Jackson, whose community activism has included working with Dr. Martin Luther King and who has long been part of the city's Weed & Seed efforts.

Developing relationships. The groundwork was laid for PSN's community engagement in Indianapolis through several earlier initiatives, including Weed & Seed and the Front Porch Alliance, which was established under former Mayor Stephen Goldsmith to encourage partnerships between city government and faith institutions, neighborhoods, and community members to address local problems. PSN partner agencies are encouraged to take a hands-on approach and “make PSN part of your front porch” by getting out of the office, going to neighborhood meetings, convening town hall meetings, and supporting an inclusive PSN community outreach committee.

Putting the strategy into action. There are many events in Indianapolis at which PSN has a presence, all of which are notable as examples of criminal justice agencies and community organizations addressing problems together:

Offender notification meetings. These include law enforcement, probation and parole, community based organizations, and faith organizations (ministers offer hope but also state they will call police if offenders violate the law).
Interventions with gangs. The “Peace in the Streets” Rally and Dinner is a gang mediation event held in a neutral environment. Participants include members of various gangs, and talks are given by former gang members. There is also a youth street ministry led by a former gang member that reaches out to youth on the streets, in malls, etc.
Events to bring community members together after a tragedy. ”Light the Night for Life” is a gathering to mourn victims of gun crime. Held within one week of the event, it is focused on the community rather than the victim's family, serving as a reminder of the need to stop the violence. More than 20 Light the Night gatherings were held in the last six months of 2004. Typically, 50-80 people attend, but the event has attracted as many as 1,000. Participants may include grief counselors and high level police and prosecution officials, as well as community members. Other events include prayer vigils and weekly “faith walks.”

Engaging Businesses and Foundations

Several districts have received substantial support from organizations formed to help fund their media campaigns and educational efforts to combat gun crime. For example, the Project Exile²⁰ Citizen Support Foundation in Virginia, formed in July 1997, raised more than $140,000 in less than two years for advertising and for disseminating Project Exile's media messages.²¹ To support PSN, Colorado Exile raised $1.2 million.

Business and Foundation Support for Colorado Exile

Colorado Exile began after the Columbine High School shootings to serve as the public awareness component of Colorado 's PSN initiative. The board of directors formed a non-profit organization and raised $1.2 million in donations, half of which came from foundations. The initial 16 board members each contributed $10,000, and large corporations made in-kind as well as cash contributions.

Colorado Exile supported advertisements, posters, and other public awareness efforts, including bumper stickers, hats and t-shirts, a community video, and public presentations. The media matched the organization's advertising expenditures nearly dollar for dollar to create an ad campaign seen by 97 percent of the available market. In addition, the non-profit worked with the United States Attorney's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to develop a law enforcement training video, which was sent to every law enforcement agency and district attorney's office in the state.

The Southern District of Ohio takes another approach. There, the Cincinnati-area Chamber of Commerce and police partner to operate a “Drug Elimination Detail” safety program. The program pays police officers overtime to focus on the drug dealing problem. In a four-month period in 2004, officers reportedly made nearly 700 arrests and seized 21 guns.²²

A number of PSN task forces have found other ways to elicit private-sector support of PSN. For example:

Sports teams. In the District of Connecticut, the U.S. Attorney's Office partnered with the New Britain Rock Cats baseball team in the summer 2004 for the “Campaign to End Gun Violence.” Youth attended sports clinics and games, and they helped create and deliver PSN messages. The campaign also included PSN scoreboard displays and live radio promotions.
Media outreach partners. In Indianapolis (Southern District of Indiana), a celebrity basketball game—held as part of the Indiana Black Expo summer celebration—attracted 3,000 youth, major hip-hop stars, and NBA players and coaches. Gun crime reduction messages were featured throughout the game and in game promotions (a local radio station offered game tickets as prizes for answering questions on gun laws correctly).
Firearms industry representatives and federal firearms licensees. PSN in the Northern District of Georgia met with firearms industry representatives and federally licensed firearms dealers to discuss how to reduce the incidence of straw purchases. Strategies incorporated the ATF/National Shooting Sports Foundation's (NSSF) “Don't Lie for the Other Guy” campaign and included sending letters to targeted gun dealers.

PSN task forces in Louisiana and Utah have also coordinated their PSN initiatives with the “Don't Lie for the Other Guy” campaign. In Louisiana , this involves visits to all federally licensed firearms dealers to distribute information kits (including a video) and point of purchase displays. In Utah , oversized clipboards with a sticker explaining the consequences of straw purchases, used when filling-out forms required to purchase a firearm, are distributed to pawn shops as well as gun dealers.
Shooting sports organizations. In the District of Maine, the Sportsmen's Alliance of Maine has published information on PSN in its newsletter.

Engaging Offender Populations

Because gun-crime reduction efforts, at least over the shorter term, are often focused on prosecuting gun offenders, it can be hard to envision how offender populations might be engaged in PSN except as potential “users” of warning messages. Many PSN task forces, however, are taking a broader view and are engaging the community to address questions like these:

Because the large majority of offenders will return from prison to the community, how can the community work with PSN to hold them accountable for future behavior? How can the community provide resources and support?
How can the community help reach the subset of offenders that are in their teens?
What about ex-offenders who have succeeded in becoming productive members of the community? How can they be engaged in PSN?

Pulling Levers

Engaging the Community in Meetings with Offenders: District of Connecticut

The District of Connecticut reports that one of its most important outreach initiatives is monthly offender meetings held in Hartford, New Haven , and Bridgeport. At these meetings, PSN partners, in coordination with the Connecticut Board of Parole, the Connecticut Probation Office, and the Connecticut Department of Corrections, speak to 35-50 violent felons who are on some form of supervision. Each task force explains PSN's team approach to gun crime, discusses recent federal and state cases, and attempts to discourage attendees from possessing a firearm.

In addition, community resource partners discuss the availability of services to assist with continuing education, fatherhood issues (such as custody, visitation and support), obtaining identification, and job seeking skills and career resources. It is during this second half of the meeting that the attendees see that law enforcement is trying to assist them in making the right decisions.

Source: United States Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut, http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ct/psn.html

Increasingly, PSN task forces are adapting the “lever pulling” strategy that was a cornerstone of the successful Operation Ceasefire initiative in Boston. A critical part of this strategy is a “layering” of messages from all criminal justice agencies, emphasizing that any violation of the law or condition of release will result in swift and severe consequences. At the same time, the strategy recognizes offenders' needs for access to resources like housing, substance abuse treatment, education, and job training. Criminal justice agencies alone cannot possibly meet these needs, but they can work to bring community resources to bear on the problem.

Community Action Teams

The District of Utah involves trained community action teams in PSN. The teams, composed of law enforcement and many other city and community agencies, conduct weekly reviews of cases involving multiple issues or complaints from a single address. The team provides case management and focused interventions, including home visits to juveniles and adult offenders.

Other Examples of Engaging Offender Populations

PSN research partners may be able to assist a district in involving offenders in data analysis (see sidebar, “Involving Offenders in Analyzing Gun Crime”). Examples of this approach include:

The PSN research partner in the Eastern District of Missouri conducted a survey of inmates. Results were used to develop ad messages emphasizing that a federal prison sentence often means living in an isolated area far from home.
PSN in the Southern District of West Virginia held a focus group with offenders, who later assisted with a gun-violence reduction project in schools.
When the Western District of New York (Rochester area) wanted to know more about the dynamics of drug-related homicides, researchers conducted lengthy focus groups with inmates at the Monroe County correctional facility. These produced valuable insights on gun carrying and suppliers; drug house operations and drug house robberies; the effects of law enforcement, prosecution, and probation/parole strategies.

¹³ In addition, FEAT team and BJA representatives provided information based on their PSN work across all districts. Other sources included interviews and publications.

¹⁴ 2-1-1 press release, “Project Safe Neighborhoods,” June 16, 2003. Retrieved at http://www.infoline.org/media/pr/pr5.asp

¹⁵ PHX 11 (Phoenix government access cable channel), transcript, interview with Assistant United States Attorney Fred Battista, aired January 10-23, 2005, retrieved at http://phoenix.gov/11/trd10105.html

¹⁶ Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Report, 2003, Table 2.10: Murder Victims by Age, by Weapon, 2003, retrieved at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_03/pdf/03sec2.pdf

¹⁷ Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Report, 2003.

¹⁸ “Boston's Operation Homefront Involves Police, Clergy in Helping High Risk Youth,” U.S. Mayor Newspaper, The United States Conference of Mayors, February 2005, retrieved at http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/us_mayor_newspaper/documents/02_14_05/Boston_BP1.asp

¹⁹ A Safe Haven is a neighborhood facility where youth and community residents can participate in after school and weekend programs, such as mentoring, tutoring, various human services programs, recreational activities, and educational workshops. Many districts have established Safe Havens as part of Weed & Seed initiatives.

²⁰ In 1997, the United States Attorney's office in Richmond, Virginia developed the Project Exile approach, which included coordination among federal, state, and local law enforcement to promptly arrest and prosecute armed criminals in federal court. The approach also involves educating front-line law enforcement officers with respect to federal firearm laws and search and seizure issues; and involving community groups and local media in promoting the message that an illegal gun can result in hard time in a federal prison.

²¹ Strategies to Reduce Gun Violence (n.d.), U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. Summary available at http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/gun_violence/profile38.html

²² Jane Pendergrast, “Drug Detail: Necessary Step for Chamber, “ The Enquirer, September 3, 2004.

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