Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Violence Intervention topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Researchers tell council the city's community violence intervention record is mixed; call for focused, accountable design
Summary
Johns Hopkins professor Daniel Webster and University of Maryland qualitative lead Joseph Richardson testified that a multi-year evaluation found no evidence that Cure the Streets and earlier Violence Intervention Initiative designs reduced gun violence overall, and recommended concentrating resources, improving data and implementing stronger accountability measures.
Professor Daniel Webster of Johns Hopkins and Dr. Joseph Richardson of the University of Maryland presented qualitative and quantitative findings from an evaluation of DC's community violence intervention programs.
Webster said the published statistical analysis (American Journal of Epidemiology) identified no evidence that the programs as previously implemented reduced gun violence in treated neighborhoods and noted limited implementation data and variable program fidelity over the years. He cautioned that sparse reporting and short contracts had undermined program stability and that some early implementation years showed "backfire effects" in outcomes.
Richardson, who leads the qualitative component, urged the committee to center frontline staff narratives and implementation context, noting that under-resourced, short-term contracts, high worker turnover and minimal performance measurement had limited program effectiveness. Together they urged focusing resources on a smaller set of high-risk individuals in defined areas, improving performance management and providing sufficient, multi-year funding to allow rigorous evaluation.
Council members asked for updated analyses reflecting the merged program design and for compliance and implementation data to inform funding and contracting decisions.
