BCJI sites use data and research to guide program strategy. Researchers are engaged in the day-to-day work of each BCJI project, helping partners examine problems, select evidence-informed strategies, monitor progress, and capture results. Key elements of BCJI data and research include:
Focus on Hot Spots: BCJI teams target a discrete urban neighborhood or rural area with disproportionately high crime, often focusing in on the blocks or other “microplaces” that drive large proportions of calls for service or crime incidents in the area. These are typically specific streets, properties, or public spaces in communities that have struggled with crime for years.
Analyzing Diverse Crime Drivers: BCJI researchers help cross-sector teams get a full picture of the drivers of crime by analyzing spatial and temporal patterns of crime; offender and victim attributes; patterns of blight, vacancy and other environmental factors; and social factors such as mobility and distrust that influence public safety.
Evidence-Informed Solutions: BCJI sites select crime reduction and prevention strategies that have been shown through research to be effective. They may also draw on available research to craft innovative strategies to respond to specific local problems. While strategies vary across sites based on their specific neighborhood needs, some common approaches include:
targeted police foot and bike patrols; focused deterrence strategies with high risk individuals and groups to reduce gun violence;
abatement and rehabilitation of vacant and problem properties;
blight reduction and beautification efforts following Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles;
wraparound service programs for at-risk youth, homeless individuals and people coming home from incarceration; and
neighbor organizing and reclamation of community gathering places to enhance collective efficacy and community-police collaboration.
Research-Practitioner Partnerships: As part of the Innovations Suite of programs administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, BCJI adds to knowledge about how researchers can work with residents and organizational partners to pursue strategies informed by data and evidence.
The BCJI team in Baltimore’s McElderry Park neighborhood created a data portal to make it easier for residents, community groups and other interested parties to keep on top of what is happening in the neighborhood.
This web site is funded in part, through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).