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Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) was launched by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2002 to reduce gun violence across 94 federal districts. The City of Chicago adopted this program the same year, targeting neighborhoods inflicted with high rates of poverty, unemployment, gang membership, and high school dropouts. Initial evaluations determined that PSN was working-violent crime decreased in areas considered to be “high-dose PSN sites” relative to others.
After more than a decade of PSN’s implementation, a new study led by Ben Grunwald and Andrew V. Papachristos evaluated the long-term impact of PSN in Chicago. The authors found that, contrary to popular belief, the results of the program’s effectiveness were not as significant as earlier studies indicated. In fact, they showed that the project reduced homicides in its first years of implementation, but like other anti-violence initiatives in Chicago, the effects “may have dissipated over time.”
The prosecution of gun crimes was revised after the city designed a case review process that allowed both federal and local prosecutors to review gun cases and determine whether to prosecute in state or federal courts. This strategy...