Findings and Lessons Learned from the National Evaluation of Project Safe Neighborhoods

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

This panel presents final findings from a 5-year evaluation of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a flagship initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice to reduce violent crime across the U.S. and territories. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ)-funded PSN evaluation comprised a national assessment and case studies in 10 federal districts, studying PSN models introduced in 2018 and 2021. The key objectives of the evaluation were to conduct implementation and outcome evaluations at the national level and in the case study sites to fully answer key research questions about PSN and to develop and disseminate findings, materials, and reports that benefit federal personnel who administer PSN and local PSN practitioners.
The presentations describe the variability in PSN implementation nationwide and in the 10 case study sites and how that variability relates to changes in violent crime, lessons learned about the challenges of conducting an evaluation of a nationwide program that is implemented differently in every site and recommendations for research partners or other evaluators interested in future evaluations of PSN. A discussant from U.S. DOJ offers perspectives on implications of the findings for the PSN program and how the evaluation fits with the larger body of crime prevention and enforcement work.

Sub Unit

• Area III. Types of Offending / 12. Violent Crime

Individual Presentations

• The National Assessment of PSN - Jim Trudeau, RTI International; Josh Hendrix, RTI International

• Implementation and Outcomes of PSN in Case Study Sites - Christine Lindquist, RTI International

• Lessons Learned from the Evaluation of PSN - Lynn Langton, RTI International

Discussant

• Basia E. Lopez, National Institute of Justice