Gun violence is a multi-faceted issue that plagues modern American society. It becomes even more tragic when you consider that a lot of gun related crimes are committed by juveniles, and the number of such offenses is rising every day. For instance, here’s a report by the National Center for Health Statistics: “the handgun homicide rate for this age group increased 158 percent from 1984 to 1993. These data contrast sharply with a 19-percent decline in firearm murders among those individuals age 24 and older for the same time period.“ (Wilson, 2000) Those statistics are the proof that the gun violence issue should be treated as the top priority, and it has to be solved as soon as possible.
Evidently, with such a compound problem, you can’t just charge into it head on. Meticulous planning and preparations have to be made beforehand. With the amount of data, possible reasons and solutions, merely writing down each step on paper, line by line will be unproductive. Instead, a system has to be created that provides a structured layout of the whole ordeal. Thankfully, that system already exists. It’s called a logical model.
At its core, the logical model is a flowchart which outlines problems, their solutions, and potential outcomes. It takes into a consideration short-term solutions and their short-term outcomes as well as long-term ones. The logical model is easily modified and with each new set of data and information, it gets more refined and detailed, closer to the optimal solution of the problem.
That’s in theory. Let’s see how it works in practice, looking at the real implementation by Baton Rouge. Baton Rouge is one of the four communities that were chosen by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to test their new program, which believes that to prevent gun violence, you have to base your plan on three principles: prevention, suppression, and intervention.
The Baton Rouge community was very successful in the implementation and execution of a new program. Their success can be attributed to an already established foundation (for example, an already existing structure, city’s anti-drug force, assisted in setting up the gun violence prevention program) and logical step-by-step approach. The community has shown an ability to adapt their program quickly. When data analysis revealed that not all parts of the community were represented in the project, required representatives were swiftly found. Baton Rouge project demonstrated a thorough understanding of the community and its needs. They’ve assessed and covered all the points of the program. For example, their intervention plan was the Life Skills Academy, a program that “addresses character strengthening and parenting skills for the targeted youth, their siblings, and parents.” (Wilson, 2000)
Baton Rouge had great success with a system that was built upon logical model framework. Just in three years, from 1996 to 1999, their homicide rate was reduced by 20 percents - from 48 to 28. Clearly, the core success of the project should be attributed to a logical model that the project has conceived. Without it, the logistics of the operation would be complicated and inability to see the full picture all the time (which is substantially represented by logical model flowchart) means that the program wouldn’t be able to adapt and react as quickly as they did to newly discovered problems.
References
Wilson, J. (2000). Fighting Juvenile Gun Violence. Juvenile Justice Bulletin.
