Similar to other cities in the country, Atlanta experienced a surge in gun violence beginning in the mid-1980s running to the 1990s. During this time there was a sharp rise in gun related violence across the nation with 50% increase in gun homicide recorded among juveniles and young adults. Firearm violence against the youth below 18 years was also on the increase with young African Americans affected the most. For example in Fulton County homicide against young black men increased four times over. These statistics and others reiterated the fact that conventional approaches of rapid response were not effectively dealing with the situation. This paper will endeavor to highlight how the problem was solved through a community problem solving approach.
This violence that seemed never-ending brought the city of Atlanta to its knees, and it prompted quick and decisive action to calm it. The city shifted direction from the conventional methods of law enforcement officers and instead adopted a strategic approach that aimed at involving all stakeholders at the community level. Atlanta’s participation in the project Pulling American Communities Together (PACT) was a stepping stone that brought about the adoption of the community problem solving approach. PACT was an initiative by the Department of Justice established to enable collaboration between institutions within a community on public safety issues (Philip & Jens, 2000). The project was able to identify the key problem areas as juvenile crime, homicide and gun violence. This community problem solving approach employed three strategies that included: strategic approaches to violence prevention combining the expertise of researchers and practitioners, identification, implementation, and evaluation of a mix of strategies preventing illegal carrying and use of firearms by juveniles and using the approach to implement, monitor, evaluate and refine the program.
Some of the objectives set out during this project included: measuring fear of crime in the project area, mapping, and tracking of geographical patterns of juvenile firearm violence, determining reasons and locations for the acquisition of guns by juveniles and developing an intervention, implementation, and evaluation plan to reduce juvenile gun violence. This project involved a cyclical process with the interpretation of results from the ongoing evaluation and the subsequent modification of intervention strategies based on these results. There was a correlation of data that encompassed areas of crime, victim characteristics, type of weapon and circumstances surrounding the shooting. This data was synthesized and then forwarded as reports to local enforcement officials to aid in the efforts. The majority of the victims in the findings were young with ages ranging 15-24, with the biggest proportions of victims being African American males. Also, the perpetrators of these acts were young people within the same age groups. Focus groups convened comprising of the most probable perpetrators, and victims linked the violence to gangs and drugs.
During the six years, the project was running there was a notable decrease in homicides with the 134 recorded in 2000 being the lowest recorder number in the last thirty years (Kellerman, Whitely, & Parramore, 2006). The intervention worked to reduce the illegal demand for guns, reduce the illegal supply of guns through law enforcement, rehabilitation of juvenile gun offenders through court initiated diversion programs and reducing illegal carrying of firearms by street level enforcement efforts. PACT initiative was able to promote cooperation among agencies at state, federal and local levels. These collaborations proved effective through the integration of efforts by community based organizations, law enforcement agencies, and juvenile justice agencies.
References
Kellerman, A. L., Whitely, D. F., & Parramore, C. S. (2006). Reducing Gun Violence:
Community Problem Solving in Atlanta (NCJ 209800). U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs. Washington, DC.
Philip J.C.& Jens L. (2000). Gun Violence: The Real Costs. New York: Oxford University Press.
