Building "a beautiful safe place for youth:" An evaluation of a community-led crime prevention process in Seattle

• In Event: Policy Panel: "Research for the Real World" in Seattle: Establishing a Community of Research and Practice

Abstract

Juvenile and youth crime is heavily concentrated at “micro-places,” but traditional hot spots policing approaches may increase the risk that young people will become involved in the criminal justice system. Evidence suggests that community-based approaches are more promising for preventing youth offending, but their effectiveness—and the role of the community—at micro-places has not been explored. With support from BJA’s Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation program we developed an innovative place-based, community-led violence prevention approach in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, which partners local community members, police, city government and researchers in the identification and implementation of non-arrest approaches in hot spots. The project builds on Seattle’s history and culture of community collaboration and neighborhood planning and emphasizes supervision and structure for youth, environmental and policy change, and increasing collective efficacy. This presentation describes the development of the project, the research-practice partnership, and evaluation findings from a quasi-experimental analysis and community survey.

Authors

• Charlotte E. Gill, George Mason University

• Zoe Vitter, George Mason University

• David Weisburd, George Mason University