Saving Lives: Alternative Approaches to Reducing Gun Violence

This paper highlights an innovative and nontraditional violence prevention program that is making a noticeable impact in what was once one of the country’s most violent communities. With unique and tailored strategies, the Operation Peacemaker Fellowship, established in Richmond, California, combines components of evidence-based practices with a community-oriented focus on relationships and mentoring to fill a gap in services and increase community safety. In an effort to highlight these unique strategies and provide a blueprint for other communities with violent crime problems, the authors of this paper hope to clearly delineate how one community is moving forward with vanguard approaches to invest in the lives of young men who once were labeled their community’s most violent, even most deadly, youth. The impact of this program is evidenced through the fellows’ own voices as they illuminate the experience of being in the Fellowship. In interviews, fellows describe how participating in this program has transformed their lives and the lives of those they love. The authors of this article spent more than two years researching this Fellowship program in order to conduct an evaluation of it and, ultimately, to demonstrate how this program is a testament to the power of relationships and love combined with evidence-based practices, consequently enriching the lives of youth and the community that embraces them.

Authors:

• Angie M. Wolf
• Angie Del Prado Lippman
• DeVone Boggan
• Caroline Glesmann
• Estivaliz Castro

Keywords:

• Community violence
• firearm violence
• interventions for violent crime
• violence prevention.

References:

[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The recession of 2007–2009.” Washington,
DC: Author, 1993.
[2] City of Richmond Planning and Building Services Department, Seifel
Consulting, Inc., and Lisa Wise Consulting, Inc., “City of Richmond
general plan 2030: Housing element.” Richmond, CA: Authors, 2013.
[3] J. A. Cully and A. L. Teten, “A therapist’s guide to brief cognitive
behavioral therapy,” Houston, TX: Department of Veterans Affairs,
South Central Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center,
2008. Retrieved from http://www.mirecc.va.gov/visn16/docs/
therapists_guide_to_brief_cbtmanual.pdf.
[4] F. Esbensen and D. Huizinga, “Victimization and delinquency,” Youth
and Society, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 202–228, 1991.
[5] N. A. Landenberger and M. W. Lipsey, “The positive effects of
cognitive–behavioral programs for offenders: A meta-analysis of factors
associated with effective treatment,” Journal of Experimental
Criminology, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 451–476, 2005.
[6] F. S. Pearson, D. S. Lipton, C. M. Cleland, and D. S. Yee, “The effects
of behavioral/cognitive-behavioral programs on recidivism,” Crime and
Delinquency, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 476–496, 2002.
[7] R. Rogers, Richmond reports lowest homicide total in 33 years, credits
multipronged efforts, West County Times, January 6, 2014.
[8] M. B. Spencer, E. Noll, and E. Cassidy, “Monetary Incentives in Support
of Academic Achievement Results of a Randomized Field Trial
Involving High-Achieving, Low-Resource, Ethnically Diverse Urban
Adolescents,” Evaluation Review, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 199–222, 2005.
[9] S. Spiker, J. Williams, R. Diggs, B. Heiser, and N. J. Aulston, “Violent
crime in Richmond: An analysis of violent crime in Richmond,
California from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2006,” Oakland, CA:
Urban Strategies Council, 2007.
[10] P. H. Tolan and D. Gorman-Smith, “Development of serious, violent and
chronic offenders,” In Never too early, never too late: Serious, violent,
and chronic juvenile offenders, R. Loeber & D. Farrington (Eds.).
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1998, pp. 68–65.
[11] P. E. Tracy and K. Kempf-Leonard, “Continuity and discontinuity in
criminal careers.” New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1996.
[12] US Census Bureau, “American Community Survey three-year estimates,
Richmond (city), California. Selected Economic Characteristics;
Selected Social Characteristics; Demographic and Housing Estimates,”
2005–2007.
[13] US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform
Crime Reporting Program, “Crime in the United States (annual).”
Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1996–2014.
[14] US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform
Crime Reporting Program, “Supplementary homicide reports.” Ann
Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social
Research (distributor), 2005–2012.
[15] D. B. Wilson, L. A. Bouffard, and D. L. MacKenzie, “A quantitative
review of structured, group-oriented, cognitive behavioral programs for
offenders,” Journal of Criminal Justice and Behavior, vol. 32, no. 2, pp.
172–204, 2005.