What Works in Reducing Community Violence: A Meta-Review and Field Study for the Northern Triangle

• In Event: Policy Panel: Putting "What Works” into Action: Violence Reduction in the United States and Latin America

Abstract

This report was prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Abt and his co-author Christopher Winship performed a systematic meta-review of 43 reviews, including over 1,400 studies, to identify “what works” in reducing community violence. In addition, they supplemented their findings with fieldwork in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the U.S., visiting over 20 sites and conducting over 50 semi-structured interviews. Abt and Winship found that a few interventions, such as focused deterrence and cognitive behavioral therapy, exhibited moderate to strong effects on crime and violence and were supported by substantial evidence. A few others, such as scared straight and gun buyback programs, clearly demonstrated no or negative effects. The vast majority of programmatic interventions, however, exhibited weak or modest effects. They identified six “elements of effectiveness” shared by the most impactful interventions, including maintaining a specific focus on those most at risk for violence; proactive efforts to prevent violence before it occurs whenever possible; increasing the perceived and actual legitimacy of strategies and institutions; careful attention program implementation and fidelity; a well-defined and understood theory of change; and active engagement and partnership with critical stakeholders. Given the modest effects of most interventions, that violence generally clusters around a small number of places, people, and behaviors, and that violence is not displaced from those clusters when they are targeted, Abt and Winship came to the simple yet powerful conclusion that it is advisable to concentrate and coordinate anti-violence efforts where they matter most. They offer recommendations to governmental and non-governmental funders, including: (1) aligning activities and invests with the evidence; (2) building internal and external expertise for evidence-informed violence reduction; and (3) launching coordinated regional research efforts that emphasize coordinated approaches, consistent methodologies, and the cumulative development of knowledge.

Author

• Thomas Abt, Harvard Kennedy School